How did the sphinxes from Sevastopol end up… in Paris? (PHOTOS)
In 1855, during the Crimean War, the Sevastopol Naval Library was destroyed. During the siege, shells struck this most beautiful building in the city. As the city's troops retreated, the defenders set it on fire to delay the enemy.
The resulting fire almost completely destroyed it. And the French troops did the rest. They took with them all the statues and bas-reliefs, as well as the Carrara marble sphinxes that stood at the foot of the stairs. They had been commissioned in Italy by Admiral Mikhail Lazarev, commander of the Black Sea Fleet. Only the heavy pedestals, on which they stood, remained.
Napoleon III ordered the Sevastopol trophies be placed next to the ‘Orangerie’ in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris. The sphinxes were later split apart.
One of them has stood at the intersection of the Quai des Tuileries and Avenue Général Lemonnier since 1877. The second is kept in the Louvre's storerooms, away from the public eye.
