Statue of Spinx, which was in the sand for centuries, was always shrouded in an aura of mystery. Purpose and method of its creation, existence within the hidden cameras, as well as the prophetic gift of the statue and its relationship with the equally mysterious pyramids all still stays unclear. Mostly similar theories advanced desperate Egyptologists and archaeologists, vainly trying to unlock the secrets of the Sphinx alone. Probably, the national symbol of ancient and modern Egypt, standing like a sentry on the plateau of Giza, at all times, playing the same role: the age of the century, excited the imagination of poets, scholars, mystics, and leisure travelers. The Sphinx of Giza is the whole essence of Egypt.

The rising sun sculpture of the Great Sphinx is located on the plateau of Giza 6 mile west of Cairo on the west bank of the Nile. The original purpose of the Sphinx is unknown. Nobody knows its original name. Sphinx is the human-headed lion in ancient Greek mythology; the term likely came into use some 2,000 years after the statue was built. There are hundreds of tombs at Giza with hieroglyphic inscriptions dating back some 4,500 years, but not one mentions the statue. It may have been built to symbolically guard over the Giza plateau, and it may have been a portrait of Pharaoh Khafre. Its face seems to bear a resemblance to Khafre’s, and the royal headdress that it wears is particular to pharaohs.

The Egyptian people considers him incarnation of the god of the sun, which the Egyptians called Hor-em-ahet (Horus in the sky). Sphinx is part of the necropolis of ancient Memphis – the residence of the Pharaohs, where the three largest pyramids of Egypt – The Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops), Khafre (Chephren) and Menkaure (Mycerinus). The monument is the largest of the surviving sculptures of the ancient world. The Sphinx was not assembled piece by piece but was carved from a single mass of limestone exposed when workers dug a horseshoe-shaped quarry in the Giza plateau. Approximately 66 feet tall and 240 feet long, it is one of the largest and oldest monolithic statues in the world. Part of the uraeus (sacred snake, protecting against evil), his nose and the ritual beard deteriorated over time. Beard is now kept in the British Museum. Elongated member on the forehead is a fragment of the sphinx royal headdress.

Sphinx has been hit by the ravages of time, human activity and pollution in our time. In fact, the complete destruction of it was saved for a long stay in the desert. Over the long history of the monument there have been many attempts to reconstruct the statue. They started back in 1401 BC., during the reign of Thutmose 4. One day after the hunt Pharaoh fell asleep in the shadow of the Sphinx, and he dreamed that a huge beast suffocated him by absorbing sand statue. In the dream, the Sphinx told Pharaoh that if he pulls out of the beast, and to cleanse it from the sand, it will receive the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. Today, between the front paws of the Sphinx one can see granite stele (144cm Ht, 40cm W, 70cm D.) which is called the Stele of dreams, which depicts the legend of the dream of the Pharaoh. Although the sculpture was cleared soon it was covered back with the sand.

The nose of the Great Sphinx at Giza is conspicuous and created lot rumors with its absence. What happened to it? The popular story is that the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte used the nose for target practice in 1798. However, some say that when Napoleon arrived in Egypt, the Sphinx was already without a nose. One legend says that the nose cracked in the bombing during the Turkish occupation. According to another version (perhaps more plausible), the nose was probably removed in the 8th century AD by a Sufi who considered the Sphinx a blasphemous idol, but all that can be said for certain, based on the tool marks that remain, is that it was deliberately pried off with chisels. The Sphinx’s face, which in ancient times was painted dark red, was also decorated with a stone beard and displayed a sculpted cobra on its forehead, both of which have also fallen off.

In 1858 founder of the Egyptian Antiquities Service Auguste Mariette began excavations in the surroundings of sculpture, but only managed to calculate the part. In 1925-1936 French engineer Emile Baresi, acting on behalf of the Antiquities Service, completed the excavation of the Sphinx. And probably for the first time since the legendary ancient Egyptian sculpture was made available for public viewing.

Carved from the bedrock of the Giza plateau, the Sphinx is truly a mysterious marvel from the days of ancient Egypt. The body of a lion with the head of a king or god, it is believed among some people that Sphinx has been built to symbolize strength and wisdom. Even with all of the pictures that we see of the Sphinx online, nothing can really prepare conscious for the time when one will finally see the Sphinx with own eyes.

Probably every educated person heard about one of the most famous libraries – Bibliotheca Alexandrina, as they called it the ancient Greeks and Egyptians – with which Alexander has become a place of pilgrimage of the greatest minds of the world, not only in ancient times, but in our time.

In ancient times, Alexandria was known for unique lighthouse and the tomb of Alexander the Great. Lighthouse height over 110 meters was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Greek Ptolemaic dynasty, who inherited Egypt from Alexander the Great, ruled the country before 30 BC. e. Octavian not defeated Antony and Cleopatra. Ptolemy’s dynasty at Alexandria has changed. The city became a center of commerce and culture in the world. At its peak of development there were about 600,000 people living in the city. The biggest attraction of Alexandria at the time was the royal library. Founded at the beginning of III century BC, the library and a temple of the Muses – Museion – became the center of education and science in the Hellenistic world. Almost everything about the origin and destruction of the library is covered with mystery. According to some historians, the Library of Alexandria, almost immediately after the foundation,could compete with other prominent cultural center at the time, to the library at Pergamum. It is assumed that the Library of Alexandria, there were more than 700,000 papyrus scrolls. (For comparison, in the XIV century in the library of the Sorbonne was the largest collection of books – 1,700 copies). There is even legend about the rulers of Egypt, who sought to supplement their collection in any way possible for them: they even ordered their troops to scour every ship coming into the port to find any manuscript. If any were found, they would leave it there, and return a copy to the owners. According to another legend, when Ptolemy III of Athens was temporarily brought priceless original classical Greek drama to rewrite them, he even promised to pay the deposit and return after the completion of this valuable manuscript. However, having obtained the manuscript, the king refused to give bail, and left in their original, sent back a copy.

Creating the Library of Alexandria is closely related to the Museion of Alexandria, founded about 295 BC the initiative of two Athenian philosophers Demetrius Phaleron and Strato-physicist, who arrived in Alexandria at the invitation of Ptolemy I to III in the beginning. BC. e. Since both of these men were also mentors royal sons, one of the most important functions, and perhaps the first task of the newly created Museion was to provide the highest level of education heirs to the throne, and to the rising generation of the elite of Egypt.[ADS]In the future, it is quite combined with sterling research work in various fields of knowledge. However, both activities Museion, of course, have been impossible without the existence of scientific and academic libraries. So there is every reason to believe that the Library as part of new scientific and educational complex was founded in the same year that he himself Museion, or after a very short time after the beginning of its operation. In favor of the version at the same time base Museion and libraries may also indicate that the library is a mandatory and integral part of the Athenian Lyceum, which, no doubt, and served as a prototype for the creation of Alexandria Museion.

The original library fund of $ 200,000 was collected books Demetrius Phaleron in the first ten years of operation of the Library. Thus we get a fairly accurate quantitative description of the role of Demetrius Phaleron in creating the Library of Alexandria.

However, the role of Demetrius Phaleron is not confined to the disposal of the funds of the library and the formation of its book collection. First of all, should convince King Ptolemy I Soter in the need for the existence of unprecedented scale of the Library. Apparently, this problem is more complex than can be presented after more than two thousand years, during the existence of a well-developed network of libraries of all sizes and status, from personal to national. Additional difficulties, of course, involved the fact that the new case required a rather large funds that were needed to maintain the monarchy young army and navy, an active domestic and foreign policy, trade, large-scale construction in Alexandria and elsewhere in the country, etc ., etc. This Demetrius Phaleron certainly knew how to use his position near the king’s advisor and legal capital of the Ptolemaic Alexandria. Using his own authority, he argued the need for an open library that “what is in the battle strength steel, is in the state power of the word” that for the successful management of a multinational state is not enough to enter the king of a new syncretic cult deity, which is the cult of Serapis, but also requires a deep knowledge of the traditions, history, laws and beliefs of the peoples of the state. In other cases, deliberately downplaying his own importance as a close friend and adviser, Demetrius Phaleron said that “in the books written by what friends are hesitant to speak to kings in the face”.

Thus, no doubt, for the early opening of the library Demetrius used his status of being educator one of the heirs to the throne, urging Ptolemy Soter that learning wisdom by reading the best books will also help continuity of power, prosperity of the country and the ruling dynasty. Apparently, it was quite a serious argument for the king, who, as a childhood friend of Alexander the Great, of course, had before him a very powerful example of the beneficial effects of the books from the collection of Aristotle’s greatest kings of his time.

At the library and the Museion of Alexandria by this time worked such great thinkers as: Eratosthenes, Zenodota, Aristarchus of Samos, Callimachus and other. Sciences which Alexandria was famous for includes geometry, trigonometry and astronomy, as well as linguistics, literature and medicine. The library kept the works in many different languages. Only to think, that in the world there was not a single valuable work, copies of which would not be in the Library of Alexandria. This was a repository of not only the scrolls, but stone and wax tablets with cuneiform and hieroglyphics. Alexandria library was open to the public and was considered as a holy place, not inferior in importance to many religious temples. But the glory to the Library of Alexandria has brought not so much the number of collected scrolls, and not even the fact that shortly after she became a collection of works of philosophers and scientists from around the world, including Archimedes, Heron, Euclid, and Hippocrates. Page on the most legendary stories within the world history, library of Alexandria brought with its downfall.

There are many legends about the downfall of the Library of Alexandria. Some researchers believe that many of its treasures were lost in a fire, arranged by soldiers of Julius Caesar in 47 BC Alexandria during the war. The downfall of the Library of Alexandria was attributed as well to successor Caesar – Emperor Augustus. There is also a version that, in times of religious strife, from III to VI century BC. e. Alexandria often clashed on religious grounds: the pagans, Jews and Christians were often in conflict with each other over beliefs. In 391 AD part of ancient manuscripts, together with the pagan temple of Serapeum, attached to the stacks, were allegedly destroyed by religious fanatics. The most popular version of the death of the famous library dates back to the Arab conquest. Sources indicate that it died in the great fire during the capture of the city of Alexandria by the Ottoman Turks. According to the legend, conquering Egypt, general AmrIbn al-’Asasked to the Caliph Omar, what to do with the library. He replied that, even if the books, stored in the library, were in agreement with the Qur’an – they were not needed anymore. And moreover, if they contradict with their holy book – they are not desirable even more, and therefore, they should be disposed of it any way. Thus, according to one version, the greatest library since antiquity was destroyed like this, recklessly. Nevertheless, there is lot variety of versions among the experts about the downfall of the library, and scientists are still debating how and when it disappeared.

Whatever the reason for the disappearance of the library was, its death in the first place, meant the loss of a huge store of knowledge. Thousands of works of Greek playwrights, as well as works by the Greek historians for 500 years, except for some works of Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon disappeared forever with this vandal act.

In 2002, a unique library, was lost 1,600 years ago, was restored thanks to the joint efforts of UNESCO, the governments of Egypt, a number of European and Arab countries as well as Japan.

Library building on the project worked Norwegian architects. Construction work lasted 7 years. Recreated Library of Alexandria, by Norwegian architects, looks very unusual. The main building looks like a giant tilted drum, the roof of which almost two football fields, is made of glass and aluminum. Basic facilities for visitors are below sea level. Smooth radiant roof slope gradually down from the height of the seventh floor and goes into the ground. The outer wall of the building, lined with gray granite, is steep and rounded. The letters of the ancient and modern alphabets are scripted on it. Spacious tiered reading room occupies most of the interior. Warehouse to store 8000000 volumes are in the basement of the building. There is also a planetarium – separate building of spherical shape, resembling a satellite in orbit. Modern computers and fire safety systems complement this system, created with the latest technology.

Thus, renewed Library of Alexandria offers visitors possibility to realize the main intention of the Project itself. This project was supplemented by UNESCO to re-establish the Dialog, freedom of opinion and to surpass all the differences. Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a cultural complex, where the library occupies the central place. It is primarily a national Institution, which as well hasan immeasurable international importance. As a result what could be said is that, this is the place, where all Cultures connect and eliminate all Frontiers, in the name of Knowledge.

1. Let’s start with a little funny paradox, did you know that the owner of the largest pyramid of Giza is also known for having the smallest Egyptian royal sculpture ever discovered? The ivory statue of paraoh Khufu (AKA Cheops) found at Abydos is 7.5 cm (3 inch) high.

2. But you wouldn’t call Khufu a small guy in real life, in fact he is known as a big and cruel leader. As described by Herodotus: “Cheops moreover came, they said, to such a pitch of wickedness, that being in want of money he caused his own daughter to sit in the stews, and ordered her to obtain from those who came a certain amount of money (how much it was they did not tell me):[ADS]and she not only obtained the sum appointed by her father, but also she formed a design for herself privately to leave behind her a memorial, and she requested each man who came in to give her one stone upon her building: and of these stones, they told me, the pyramid was built which stands in front of the great pyramid in the middle of the three, each side being one hundred and fifty feet in length.”

3. Here are some significant figures: Khufu was 20 when he came to the throne and at once began building his “Stairway to Heaven”. Khufu was the first pharaoh who build a pyramid at Giza. The entire project took about 23 years to complete, 2,300,000 building blocks, weighing an average of 2.5 tons each (Although some weigh as much as 16 tons) were used to build the great pyramid. The length of each side of the pyramid at the base is 755 feet (230.4 m). They rise at an angle of 51 52′ to a height, originally, of 481 feet (147 m) but nowadays 451 feet (138 m).

4. Some believe that Khufu’s pyramid at Giza was built by slaves, but modern Egyptologists accept that it was built by many tens of thousands of skilled workers rather than slaves. It is known that Khufu’s nephew Hemiunu was appointed head of construction for the Great Pyramid and that Khufu provided good food and clothing for his workers. According to Herodotus: “On the pyramid it is declared in Egyptian writing how much was spent on radishes and onions and leeks for the workmen, and if I rightly remember that which the interpreter said in reading to me this inscription, a sum of one thousand six hundred talents of silver was spent…” In the video below, you’ll find interesting information about the pyramid builders.

5. Experts have talked a lot about the methods by which stone blocks were raised into position, it is usually assumed that wooden and bronze levers were used to put the blocks into position. “This pyramid was made after the manner of steps which some called “rows” and others “bases”: and when they had first made it thus, they raised the remaining stones with machines made of short pieces of timber, raising them first from the ground to the first stage of the steps, and when the stone got up to this it was placed upon another machine standing on the first stage, and so from this it was drawn to the second upon another machine…” – describes Herodotus.

6. About 600 years ago, beautiful smooth blocks known as Casing Stones covered the entire exterior of the pyramid, encasing the whole structure, before the Arabs began to tear the stones off. The ancient writer, Strabo, said: “It seemed like a building let down from heaven, untouched by human hands.”  It has been calculated that the original pyramid with its casing stones would act like gigantic mirrors and reflect light so powerful that it would be visible from the moon as a shining star on earth. At the present, only a few of these are left in position on each side at the base.  One of the largest remaining Casing stones is nearly 5 feet high by 8 feet at the bottom, and weighs about 14 tons.

7. There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid – King’s chamber, Queen’s chamber and unfinished chamber. A team of French Egyptologists (Gilles Dormion and Jean-Yves Verd’hurt) claims that an undiscovered room lies underneath the pyramid’s Queen’s Chamber and insists that it is the actual burial chamber for Khufu and not the one known as the King’s chamber. However, even those who believe that the King’s chamber was never put to use believe that Khufu may have been buried elsewhere rather than in another, hidden chamber. Well, there are still lots of mysteries concerning Khufu’s burial to be.. or never to be revealed.

8. One of the most mysterious parts of the Great Pyramid is the empty coffer in the King’s Chamber, it is made from a solid block of chocolate-colored granite and is even harder than the granite walls of the King’s Chamber. For thousands of years, researchers have wondered about its purpose. Ancient legend says that it came from Atlantis or even from America.  It was never inscribed or decorated. Also, since it is too large to pass through the low passages leading into the King’s Chamber, it is considered to be placed in the chamber before the chamber was closed and passages were sealed.

9. The interior temperature of the Pyramid is constant and equals the average temperature of the earth, 20 Degrees Celsius (68 Degrees Fahrenheit).

10. Another pleasant discovery in the Great Pyramid is a spectacular ancient cedar-wood boat, which was found sealed in a pit at the base of the Great pyramid. This boat was interred in pieces and has since been reassembled, restored and preserved in a climate controlled museum over the site of the original pit. The name “Djedefre”,  who was Khufu’s son and successor, is found on some of the slabs of stone that sealed the pit, indicating that probably the boat was put there by Khufu’s son.