Basic Information
The Great Sphinx of Giza stands proudly in Egypt, just outside the busy city of Cairo, where it has been watching over the desert for thousands of years!
Great Sphinx of Giza - Facts for Kids
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Facts About Great Sphinx of Giza For Kids
The Great Sphinx is a gigantic statue that has the head of a human and the body of a lion, making it one of the most unique (special) monuments in the world!
The Great Sphinx was carved (cut) from a single piece of limestone rock about 4,500 years ago, during the time of the ancient Egyptian pyramids!
The Great Sphinx is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site along with the famous pyramids of Giza, which means it’s so special that the whole world works together to protect it!
The Great Sphinx is as long as an Olympic swimming pool (240 feet/73 meters) and as tall as a six-story building (66 feet/20 meters)!
The Great Sphinx was carved right out of the natural limestone rock sticking up from the desert — but over the years, people added stone blocks to fix its paws and other parts!
Today, the Great Sphinx serves as an amazing tourist attraction (place people visit) where millions of people come each year to learn about ancient Egypt!
You can visit the Great Sphinx every day — open at 8 AM. In summer it closes at 5 PM, and in winter at 4 PM. Going early in the morning is smart — it’s cooler and not too crowded!
The Great Sphinx is so important to history because it shows us how skilled (very good at their jobs) ancient Egyptian artists and builders were over 4,500 years ago!
History & Origins
Scientists believe (think) the Great Sphinx was built during the reign of Pharaoh Khafre around 2500 BCE — that’s over 4,000 years ago!
The Great Sphinx was likely built to guard (protect) the pyramids and the ancient Egyptian necropolis (city of the dead) at Giza!
Ancient Egyptian workers carved the Great Sphinx during the Fourth Dynasty (time period) of the Old Kingdom period, when Egypt was at its peak (best time) of power!
The Great Sphinx originally (first) had a colorful paint job — its face was painted reddish-brown, and it wore bright blue and yellow decorations!
When Napoleon Bonaparte visited Egypt in 1798, he brought a team of scientists and artists who carefully studied and drew the Great Sphinx. Their work helped the world learn more about ancient Egypt!
The Great Sphinx’s nose went missing hundreds of years ago! Some people think it was broken off on purpose in the 1300s — but no one knows exactly how it happened. The story about Napoleon’s soldiers shooting it off is just a myth!
When the Great Sphinx was first built, it was surrounded by walls that created a special temple (religious building) area where people would come to worship!
The ancient Egyptians called the Great Sphinx “Hor-em-akhet,” which means “Horus of the Horizon” — they thought it represented (stood for) the sun god!
Architecture & Design
The Great Sphinx’s face might be a portrait (picture) of Pharaoh Khafre — ancient Egyptian rulers often had monuments made to look like themselves!
The Great Sphinx’s body has the powerful muscles of a lion, showing how strong the ancient Egyptians thought their kings were!
Ancient builders used copper chisels (sharp tools), stone hammers, and wooden mallets (hammers) to carve the Great Sphinx from the limestone rock!
The Great Sphinx once wore a royal headdress called a nemes (special hat), just like the one King Tutankhamun’s famous golden mask wears!
If you could weigh the Great Sphinx, it would be as heavy as about 3,300 elephants combined!
The Great Sphinx faces east — toward the sunrise — because ancient Egyptians built it to greet the sun! They planned it this way to connect it with the solar gods.
Between the Great Sphinx’s paws, there’s a special stone tablet (flat stone with writing) called the Dream Stela that tells magical stories about the monument!
The Great Sphinx has huge ears that are about 2.0 m (6.6 ft) tall — that’s taller than many kids!
Fun & Unique Facts
The Great Sphinx has a real lion’s tail that curls around its back leg — like a lion waiting and watching!
The Great Sphinx’s paws are each 50 feet (15 meters) long — that’s longer than a full-size school bus!
More than 2 million visitors come to see the Great Sphinx every year — that’s like filling up over 40,000 school buses with curious explorers!!
It probably took about 3 years to carve the Great Sphinx, with hundreds of workers chipping away at the rock every day!
The Great Sphinx’s head is 33 feet (10 meters) wide — that’s about as wide as a basketball court!
If you walked around the Great Sphinx one time, you’d walk about 600 feet (183 meters) — that’s like walking around your school gym twice!
The Great Sphinx is massive — it’s carved from about 12,000 m³ of limestone (roughly 424,000 ft³), which is like filling around 160 Olympic swimming pools!
The Great Sphinx has huge eyes — each one is about 6 feet tall (2 meters), about as tall as two basketball hoops stacked on top of each other!
Interesting Features
There’s a small closed door on the Great Sphinx’s back that leads to a tiny tunnel — but it’s not open to visitors and doesn’t go very far!
The Great Sphinx might have had a stone beard that was about 6 feet (2 meters) long — pieces of it are now in the British Museum!
There are weird marks on the Sphinx’s stone that some people thought came from long-ago rainstorms — but experts think it’s from wind, sand, salt, and soaked ground!
The Great Sphinx looks straight toward the sunrise and the three pyramids stand just behind it in amazing order. Ancient Egyptian builders planned it all so carefully you can still see how aligned everything is!
Cultural Significance
Ancient Egyptians believed the Great Sphinx protected the pyramids with magical powers!
People in ancient times thought the Great Sphinx was so magical that they built special temples (religious buildings) just to worship it!
The Great Sphinx appears in stories from many different cultures — even the ancient Greeks wrote about it!
Some ancient Egyptians believed the Great Sphinx represented (stood for) the perfect combination of human wisdom and animal strength!
For thousands of years, people have created art, written stories, and made movies about the mysterious (strange) Great Sphinx!
Egyptian children learn about the Great Sphinx in school as one of their country’s most important national treasures!
The Great Sphinx is so famous that it appears on Egyptian money and postage stamps!
Modern Day Facts
Scientists today use special computers and 3D scanning to study every inch of the Great Sphinx!
At night, the Great Sphinx is lit up with colorful lights for a special sound and light show!
Scientists are still making new discoveries about the Great Sphinx, even after studying it for hundreds of years!
Extra Fun Facts
If the Great Sphinx could talk, it would speak Ancient Egyptian — a language written in pictures called hieroglyphs (picture writing)!
The limestone rock that makes up the Great Sphinx contains (has) tiny fossils (remains) of sea creatures from millions of years ago!
The Great Sphinx’s head is actually smaller in proportion (size compared to) to its body than it should be — nobody knows exactly why!
