The Sphinx Is On The Move

From the Director

By: Julian Siggers

Originally Published in 2019

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Dear Friends,
It is my great pleasure to share the monumental news: our iconic Sphinx of Ramesses II is on the move. For the first time in 93 years, the Sphinx will leave his perch in the lower Egyptian gallery and travel across the Museum to take up his new, more visible post at the heart of the new Main Entrance Hall. Facing the entrance, the Sphinx will be the first thing visitors see when they step through our doors. He will welcome them to the Museum and start their visit with that sense of wonder we all experience walking through the galleries which illuminate so many facets of our human story. For more on the Sphinx’s journey, which will take place in June, please see this issue’s “At the Museum.”

Julian with the Sphinx
above: Provost Wendell Pritchett, GR97; Williams Director Julian Siggers; Campaign Co-Chair Jill Topkis Weiss, C89, WG93, PAR; President Amy Gutmann; Campaign Co-Chair Peter Ferry, C79, LPS20, PAR; and Board Chair Mike Kowalski, W74, PAR celebrated with the Sphinx during the groundbreaking for the Museum’s Building Transformation project on November 1, 2017.

The mascot of our Building Transformation—just as he has been the unofficial mascot of our Museum for so many years—the Sphinx will be unveiled in his new home for the first time during our Golden Gala on November 9. Guests at this very special event will see even more—the new Africa Galleries and Mexico and Central America Gallery, the Gateway to Egypt, the renovated Harrison Auditorium, and the new amenities that will make this Museum fully accessible to all. It will be a new visitor experience across the main level, from the Middle East Galleries all the way to the Gift Shop. I hope that you will be able to join us for the celebration; for ticket information, please visit www.penn.museum/gala. And of course, we look forward to celebrating the transformation with our members at other special events this fall— more details will follow.

At its foundation, our Building Transformation is about sharing our remarkable collections in new, and newly accessible, ways. I am also pleased to tell you that we are renovating the Archives corridor to create a new exhibition space for our two-dimensional holdings, especially from our Archives, such as important but seldom-displayed vintage silver gelatin prints by renowned photographers. This space will round out our new main level, which really will exemplify the new Penn Museum.

As we begin to approach the completion of our first phase of construction, I want to thank you for your support during this time of change, and for sharing our excitement at what is to come. Thank you—I look forward to seeing many of you at our Summer Nights concerts before we celebrate the Building Transformation this fall.

Warm regards,

Siggers Signature

Cite This Article

Siggers, Julian. "The Sphinx Is On The Move." Expedition Magazine 61, no. 1 (May, 2019): -. Accessed February 15, 2025. https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-sphinx-is-on-the-move/


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