- CAIRO, Egypt (www.nando.net) -- After 10 painstaking years and $2.5
million, the ancient Egyptian symbol of royalty -- the Sphinx -- is smiling
again. On Monday, Egypt will officially mark the restoration of the giant
limestone sculpture with the body of a lion and the head of a man. President
Hosni Mubarak will attend, an orchestra will play and a light show will
highlight the work.
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- Zahi Hawas, the chief government archaeologist
for the Sphinx and Great Pyramids, said Sunday that the renovation required
12,244 white limestone blocks -- some weighing up to 1,320 pounds -- to
shore up the animal's paws, legs and stomach.
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- "The Sphinx is smiling again because
he is a healthy man," Hawas said, chuckling.
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- But the Sphinx -- believed to show the
face of its builder, Pharaoh Chephren -- does not look like new. It's still
missing its beard, parts of which are in the British and Egyptian museums,
and the nose that was lost in the 14th century.
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- When the renovation began, flakes had
been falling for years from the sculpture's badly worn and pitted chest.
Blocks weighing hundreds of pounds had tumbled from the body. And the sagging
neck was a sure sign of aging.
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- While some of the damage was due to 4,500
years of wear, much of it also was blamed on water damage from nearby drainage
systems.
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- The latest renovation was one of many.
The earliest was undertaken almost 3,400 years ago by a prince later crowned
Pharaoh Tutmosis IV. Other attempts were made in Roman times and in the
1920s.
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