The Sphinx of Giza, circa 1890

The Sphinx of Giza is a zooanthropic statue, which means the partial or complete transformation of a human being into an animal. It stands in front of the great pyramids on the Giza plateau in Lower Egypt.
At 73.5 metres long, 14 metres wide and 20.22 metres high, this lying Sphinx is the largest monumental monolithic sculpture in the world, carved out of the limestone of a natural promontory forty metres high.
Built around 2500 BC, the Sphinx is attributed to Khafren, one of the pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, or to his father, Keops.