Four sphinxes from Luxor’s Karnak Temple will be moved to Tahrir Square in Cairo, sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told Ahram Online on Friday.
The sphinxes, taken from behind the temple’s first pylon, will be transported to the busy Cairo square to take their places alongside an obelisk which was recently moved to the location.
The sphinxes are not from the famous Avenue of Sphinxes that once connected Karnak and Luxor temples, the source said, but are from the first courtyard behind Karnak’s first pylon.
That courtyard is lined with 30 pairs of sphinxes that once decorated the temple’s second pylon.
During the 22nd, 25th and 30th dynasties, the sphinxes were removed to the temple’s first courtyard, in order to free the second pylon for the construction and installation of the Taharqa column and a group of shrines.
An obelisk was transported to Tahrir from San El-Haggar archaeological site in Zagazig two months ago.
More than 90 percent of the Avenue of Sphinxes has been restored and developed recently, and will re-open for visitors soon.
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