“Echoes of Egypt: Sphinxes in Croatia” Exhibition
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The BA Antiquities Museum, in collaboration with the Embassy of Croatia in Cairo, is organizing an exhibition entitled “Echoes of Egypt: Sphinxes in Croatia” from 3 to 13 November 2025, at the Hall of Fame – BA Main Entrance.
The exhibition celebrates the anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Egypt and Croatia in 1992. It aims to highlight the long-standing cultural dialogue between the two countries by tracing the legacy of ancient Egyptian symbols in Croatia over the past two millennia, with a special focus on how the image of the Sphinx is interpreted in artistic, architectural, and cultural contexts.
The exhibition features photos of ancient Egyptian sphinxes brought by Emperor Diocletian (284-305 AD) to his palace in the present-day city of Split (Croatia's second largest city after the capital Zagreb) during ancient times, alongside 19th and 20th century sculptures bearing the same symbolism from other historical Croatian centers. To provide a more comprehensive view, the exhibition also includes statues of Greek sphinxes from ancient Roman times, as well as Romanesque and 19th-century models. Through this overlapping temporal perspective, visitors will be able to learn about key aspects of Croatian cultural history, including how Egyptian symbols were understood and adapted.
The exhibition is the second of its kind to be organized in a collaboration between the BA and the Embassy of Croatia, following the great success of the exhibition “Temples Recovered from the Nile: Egyptian Heritage in Croatian Archives” that was held in 2022.