The Great Sphinx

The Sphinx Is Larger Than You Expect and Has Been Closer to Sand Than You Realize

The Great Sphinx of Giza is 73 metres long, 20 metres high, and was carved from a single natural limestone outcrop on the Giza Plateau, probably around 2530 BCE during the reign of Pharaoh Khafre. It is the largest monumental sculpture in the ancient world. That number – 73 metres – doesn’t register until you’re standing at the eastern approach and the scale of the thing becomes spatially real. At that distance, it stops being a photograph you recognise and becomes an object in space.

The statue was buried to the neck in sand for most of the period between its completion and the modern era. Ancient Egyptians cleared it at least twice; it was almost fully buried again when modern excavation began in the 19th century. The accumulated sand probably explains why it survives at all – protected from the elements by the dunes for centuries at a time.

What You’re Looking At

The face, roughly 5 metres wide, most likely depicts Khafre, whose pyramid stands directly behind the Sphinx. The attribution is widely accepted but rests on stylistic analysis and proximity rather than an inscription – nothing on the Sphinx itself names its builder. The nose, often attributed to Napoleon’s troops in popular mythology, was gone by 1378 CE according to Arab historian al-Maqrizi, who records that a Muslim official had it destroyed for religious reasons. The uraeus (royal cobra) that originally decorated the forehead is lost. The beard fragments are split between the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the British Museum in London.

The Valley Temple adjacent to the Sphinx, connected by a causeway, is built from massive limestone blocks faced with Aswan granite and dates to the same period. The blocks weighing 100 tonnes or more are immediately apparent once you’re inside. This building is arguably the most structurally impressive surviving structure on the Giza Plateau after the pyramids, and is consistently overlooked by visitors focused entirely on the statue.

Tickets and Visiting

The standard ticket for the Giza Plateau (including the Sphinx enclosure and pyramid viewing areas) runs approximately 700 EGP for adult foreign visitors in 2026. Payment is by card only – the vast majority of Egyptian museum and site entrances have moved to card-only systems since 2025, so come prepared. Interior access to Khufu’s Great Pyramid requires a separate ticket. The Solar Boat Museum (housing a 4,500-year-old cedar boat found disassembled in a pit beside the pyramid) also has a separate fee and is worth it.

Photography is permitted in the Sphinx enclosure. The best direct views are from the eastern approach near the Valley Temple. The angle from the higher ground to the south, accessible on foot from the main plateau, gives the clearest separation of the statue from the pyramids behind it.

The plateau is large and walking between attractions takes time. Morning visits (immediately at opening) give you the best light on the Sphinx’s face and significantly less crowd pressure than midday. Summer temperatures on the Giza Plateau exceed 40 degrees Celsius by early afternoon; the combination of heat and tourist operators offering horse and camel rides with high-pressure persistence makes afternoon visits genuinely unpleasant.

The Nightly Sound and Light Show

The sound and light show runs nightly at the Sphinx with the statue as its focal point and narrator. The script is melodramatic but the experience of seeing the plateau lit at night from the seats beside the Sphinx temple is legitimate. Tickets run around EGP 150-250 depending on the session. If you’re staying nearby, it is worth one evening.

The nearest hotels with pyramid and Sphinx views are the Mena House (historic property with gardens on the plateau approach road) and the Marriott Mena House. Giza is also reachable by metro and taxi from central Cairo as a day trip.