3-008-476 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Prince of Wales' Visit to Egypt: the Sphinx at Djizeh and the recent excavations around it - from a drawing by Frank Dillon, 1862. The future King Edward VII in Africa. 'The Egyptian sphinxes are lions without wings...The largest of the existing sphinxes is that of Djizeh...which is hewn cut of the rock, and is of the enormous dimensions of 143ft. in length and 62ft. in height in front. The greater part of it is covered with sand, above which little more than the head and shoulders are visible. Some excavations of an extensive character are, however, in operation, as shown in our Engraving...The sun had just set when the Prince and his party came into full sight of that memorable view. They had just time to survey the colossal features of the Sphinx and the general outline of the Pyramids by the fading light...they were roused by early dawn to make the ascent of the Great Pyramid before sunrise. The Prince, who was the earliest of the party, excited the astonishment of the Bedouins by climbing to the summit without assistance, a feat which, as all who have tried it are well aware, is anything but a light one'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.