When you purchase through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate committal . Here ’s how it work .
An tremendous stone sphinx present the pharaoh Ramses II has pass about a hundred in the Egypt Gallery of the Penn Museum in Philadelphia . But today ( June 12 ) the sphinx was relocate in " a massive move " that saw the stupendous statue " floating " on so - called air dollies — a technology that uses high - powered air condensation in a manner interchangeable to hoverboards , museum representativessaid in a statement .
The sphinx ’s new location is in the museum ’s main entering hall , where day will bath the ancient statue for the first time since it come at the museum nearly a century ago .
The red granite sphinx of Ramses II/Merneptah from Memphis, Egypt, was originally installed in the upper courtyard of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, circa 1915 to 1916.
The sphinx is more than 3,000 age old and weighs nearly 13 scads ( 11.8 metric tons ) . So , although its new home is only 250 feet ( 76 meters ) from the spot where it has rest since 1926 , the move present unique challenges , museum representatives report . [ Photos : The Aries the Ram - head Sphinx of Gebel el - Silsila ]
With itslion ’s bodyand human head , the red - granite sphinx represents the inspired big businessman of Ramses II . Though the head of the sphinx is heavily erode , the body was buried in Baroness Dudevant for thousands of years , which preserved much of the statue ’s original detail , accord to the financial statement .
The sphinx was excavate from the Temple of the God Ptah at Memphis , Egypt , as a joint project between the Egyptian Antiquities Service , the Egypt Exploration Fund and the British School of Archaeology , and it sailed to the U.S. in 1913 .
A diagram shows the route that the sphinx traveled in its move to the Penn Museum’s main entrance hall.
“Floating” a sphinx
How do you transport such an tremendous aim ? Penn Museum stave first3D - scannedthe sphinx , to calculate its weightiness and denseness . Then , they collaborate with engineers to determine how to safely move it .
The squad adjudicate that , first , the sphinx would be lifted up by hydraulic gauntry — a system of rules for moving threatening load . It would then be placed on four air dollies that would " float " the sphinx to nearby scaffolding , where hydraulic gantries would hoist the monumental statue into situation on a caterpillar tread , The Philadelphia Inquirer reported .
Once on the track , the sphinx would be tardily and cautiously nudged around a courtyard and through a window — with " inches to spare " — finally reaching its locating in the museum ’s debut entrance hall , according to the Inquirer . Video of the move , which was shared live on Facebook , demonstrate the scrupulous subnormality of the elbow grease required to transport the hefty artefact .
primitively bring out onLive Science .
