The Sand City project arrived at its full completion in 7 months. It is bland of two different concepts; The first one, Historical Art, consists of 22 sculptures and six reliefs representing legends, famous military leaders, and characters, one of the romances that changed the world, Gods. The second part is Wonderland Art, consisting of 20 sculptures and 11 reliefs of Walt Disney animated characters.
The only open-air Museum in Africa and the Middle East was made of 42 sculptures and 17 reliefs by artists from different countries who reflected their work’s peace of heart and soul, using 11.000 m3 of pure sand and 4.000 tones of water. The Sand City museum has a shopping square, coffee shop, kids’ playground and workshop called “Magic Castle”.
Location of Sand City Hurghada
The Sand City Museum lies in Hurghada, Egypt’s Red Sea Governorate.
List of Sculptures and Reliefs in the Sand City Museum
Visitors to the Sand City museum can take a journey with us through the ages. This journey connects our world with its historical roots in a way that absorbs exciting and often surprising history and tells stories of well-known legends. They can unwind with their families and friends through day-night excursions and various entertainment programs.
Sphinx
The Great Sphinx of Giza is a mythical creature with the body of a lion and a human head that stands on the Giza Plateau. It is located in the north and below the pyramids. Sphinx is the giant monolith statue globally and is the oldest known monumental sculpture. It is standing 73.5 meters (241 ft) long, 19.3 meters (63 ft) wide, and 20.22 m (66.34 ft) high. Ancient Egyptians built it during the Pharaoh Khafra (c. 2558–2532 BC). Although the date of its construction is uncertain, historians believe that the head of the Great Sphinx belongs to Pharaoh Khafra.
Isis
Isis is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother, wife, and patroness of nature and magic. Also, she is the protector of the dead and the goddess of children. The name Isis means “Throne”, and as the personification of the throne, she was an essential representation of the pharaoh’s power.
In the typical form of her myth, Isis was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, goddess of the sky, and she was born on the fourth intercalary day. She married her brother, Osiris, and she conceived Horus with him. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when Set murdered him. Using her magical skills, she restored his body to life after gathering the body parts strewn about the Earth by Set.
Scarab
Scarab – The particular species of beetle represented in the numerous ancient Egyptian amulets and works of Art was commonly the large sacred scarab (Scarabaeus Sacer). They become enormously popular for the rest of the pharaonic period and beyond. This beetle was famous for its habit of rolling dung balls along the ground and depositing them in its burrows. They survive in large numbers and through their inscriptions and typology. Also, they are an essential source of information for archaeologists and historians of the Ancient world. This creative aspect of the scarab was associated with the creator god Atum. By the early New Kingdom, heart scarabs had become part of the battery of amulets protecting mummies.
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769. – 5 May 1821.) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter stages of the French Revolution and its associated European wars. Napoleon, I was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814. He brought about several significant changes across Europe, including abolishing feudalism and spreading religious toleration. After a disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812, Napoleon abdicated the throne two years later and was exiled to the Island of Elba. After the defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, he surrendered again and was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena, where he died at 51.
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Philopator (Late 69 BC – August 12, 30 BC), known to history as Cleopatra, was the last active pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, only shortly survived by her son, Caesarion, as pharaoh. The Ptolemies, throughout their dynasty, spoke Greek and refused to speak Egyptian, which is why Greek and Egyptian languages were used on official court documents such as the Rosetta Stone. By contrast, Cleopatra did learn to speak Egyptian and represented herself as the reincarnation of an Egyptian goddess. Her romantic liaisons and military alliances with the Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Her supposed exotic beauty and powers of seduction earned her an enduring place in history and popular myth. The means of her death is uncertain, but Plutarch and other writers advanced the theory that she used a poisonous snake known as the asp, a symbol of divine royalty.
Gaius Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (July 100 BC- 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, consul and notable author of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. Caesar’s conquest of Gaul, completed by 51 BC, extended Rome’s territory to the English Channel and the Rhine. He became the first Roman general to cross both when he built a bridge across the Rhine and conducted the first invasion of Britain. The conspiracy against Caesar encompassed as many as sixty noblemen, including his protégé Marcus Brutus. The “dictator for life” was murdered by his senators during a meeting in a hall next to Pompey’s Theatre.
Battle of Kadesh
The Battle of Kadesh (also Qadesh) took place between the forces of the Egyptian Empire under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River, in what is now the Syrian Arab Republic. Then, Ramesses army crossed the Egyptian border in the spring of year five of his reign and reached the area of Kadesh from the South after a month’s march.
The Vikings
The Vikings (from Old Norse víkingr) were seafaring north Germanic people who raided, traded and explored. They settled in vast Europe, Asia, and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th centuries. The Vikings employed long wooden ships with wide, shallow-draft hulls, allowing navigation in rough seas or shallow river waters. The ships could be landed on beaches, and their lightweight enabled them to be hauled over portages. These versatile ships allowed the Vikings to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, as far west as Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, and as far south as Nekor. This period of Viking expansion, known as the Viking Age, constitutes an essential element of the medieval history of Scandinavia, Great Britain, Ireland, Russia, and the rest of Europe.
Ganesha
Ganesha, also known as Ganapati and Vinayaka, is widely worshipped in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal; Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations. Although he is known for many attributes, Ganesha’s elephant head makes him easy to identify. Ganesha is a Sanskrit compound, joining the words Gana, meaning a group, multitude, or categorical system and isha, meaning lord or master. On the one hand, he holds a lotus, which has roots in the mud and shines on the water’s surface.
On the other hand, he holds a plate of sweets, a delicacy called laddus. Ganesh’s traditional offerings signify that man should engage in nishkama karma, free from fruits or the results. On the third hand, he holds a tusk, broken off when his pen ran out of ink; he continued at the dictation of sage and wrote the divine scriptures. On the fourth hand, he holds one hand in blessing: Abhayahasa, removal of fear and obstacles.
Yin and Yang
Yin & Yang – In Chinese philosophy, yin-yang is often called “yin and yang”. It describes how seemingly opposite or contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world. It also explains how they give rise to each other as they interrelate. Many natural dualities (such as light and dark, high and low, hot and cold, fire and water, life and death, and so on) are physical manifestations of the yin-yang concept. Yin and Yang can be considered complementary (instead of opposing) forces interacting to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the parts. Everything has yin and yang aspects (for instance, the shadow cannot exist without light). The battle is generally dated to 1274 BC and is the earliest battle in recorded history for which details of tactics and motions are known.
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (20/21 July 356 – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a Greek king of Macedon, a state in ancient northern Greece. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until 16. By age thirty, he had created one of the ancient world’s largest empires, stretching from the Ionian Sea to the Himalayas. He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history’s most successful commanders. On either 10 or 11 June 323 BC, Alexander died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, in Babylon, at age 32. There are two different versions of Alexander’s death, and the details of the end differ slightly in each. The first source confirms that he developed a fever. However, in the second account, he was struck with pain after downing a large bowl of unmixed wine in honour of Hercules.
Eros
Eros, in Greek mythology, was the Greek god of love. His Roman counterpart was Cupid (“desire”). Some myths make him a primordial god, while he is the son of Aphrodite in other mythologies. He appears in ancient Greek sources under several different guises, in the earliest sources (the cosmogonies, the earliest philosophers. And texts referring to the mystery religions, he is one of the primordial gods involved in the coming into being of the cosmos. In later sources, Eros is represented as the son of Aphrodite, whose mischievous interventions in the affairs of gods and mortals cause bonds of love to form, often illicitly.
Sparta
Leonidas, “son of the lion”, died 480 BC, also known as Leonidas the Brave, was a Greek hero-king of Sparta, the 17th of the Agiad line, third son of Anaxandridas II of Sparta. He was believed to be a descendant of Heracles, possessing much of the latter’s strength and bravery. He is notable for his leadership at the Battle of Thermopylae was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states led by King Leonidas of Sparta and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I over three days during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium, in august or September 480 BC, at the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae (The Hot Gates). The Persian invasion of Greece ended with the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.
Pegasus
Pegasus is one of the best-known mythological creatures in Greek mythology, the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing when Perseus decapitated his mother. He is a winged divine stallion depicted in pure white colour. As a horse god, Pegasus was sired by Poseidon and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Greco-Roman poets wrote about his ascent to heaven after his birth and his obeisance to Zeus, King of the gods. Then the latter instructed him to bring lightning and thunder from Olympus. He was captured by the Greek hero Bellerophon near the fountain Peirene with the help of Athena and Poseidon. Athena hallowed the hero to ride him to defeat a monster, the Chimera, before realising many other exploits. His rider, however, falls off his back, trying to reach Mount Olympus. Zeus transformed him into Pegasus’s constellation and placed him in the sky.
Poseidon
There is a Homeric hymn to Poseidon, the protector of many Hellenic cities, although he lost the contest for Athens to Athena. Poseidon is one of the twelve Olympian deities of the pantheon in Greek mythology. His main domain was the ocean; he was the “God of the Sea”. Additionally, he gained the title “Earth-Shaker” due to his role in causing earthquakes and the “tamer of horses”. Ancients usually depicted him as an older male with curly hair and a beard.
Zeus
Zeus is the “Father of Gods and men” who rules the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father who rules the family according to the ancient Greek religion. Also, Zeus was the king of the Gods for the Greeks, who oversaw the universe. He is the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. Also, the god Zeus was the child of Cronus and Rhea and his youngest siblings. In most traditions, he is married to Hera, although, at the oracle of Dodona, his consort is Dione: according to the Iliad, he is the father of Aphrodite Dione.
When Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save him so that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his children. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallowed. Greek artists frequently depict Zeus in one of two poses: standing, striding forward, with a thunderbolt levelled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty.
Bocca Della Verità
La Bocca Della Verità (English: the Mouth of Truth) is an image carved from Pavonazzo marble of a man-like face in the portico of Santa Maria’s church in Cosmedin, Rome, Italy. The sculpture is part of a first-century ancient Roman fountain, or perhaps a maintenance hole cover, portraying several possible pagan gods, probably Oceanus. Most Romans believe the ‘Bocca’ represents the ancient god of the river Tiber. However, the most notable characteristic of the mouth is its role as a lie detector. From the Middle Ages, Egyptians believed that if one told a lie with one’s hand in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off. The piece was placed in the portico of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in the 17th century.
Ashurbanipal
Ashurbanipal was an Assyrian king, the son of Esarhaddon and the last strong king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (934-609 BC). He is famed for amassing important cuneiform documents for his royal palace at Nineveh. This collection, known as the Library of Ashurbanipal, is now housed at the British Museum. Despite being a famous king among his subjects, he was also known for his cruelty to his enemies. Some pictures depict him putting a dog chain through the jaw of a defeated king and then making him live in a dog kennel. Many paintings of the period exhibit his brutality. Documentation from the last years of Ashurbanipal’s reign is scarce. The last attestations of Ashurbanipal’s reign are of his year 38 (631 BC), but according to later sources, he reigned for 42 years (627 BC).
Lamassu
The Lamassu is a celestial being from Mesopotamian mythology. he had a human part above the waist, and a bull below the waist also had a bull’s horns and ears. It frequently appears in Mesopotamian Art, sometimes with wings. The lamassu and shedu were household protective spirits of the familiar Babylonian people, becoming associated later as royal protectors, and were placed as sentinels at the entrances. The lamassu in real life is very tall. In this case, the lamassu is being used to symbolise power. The motif of a winged animal with a human head is common to the Near East, first recorded in Ebla around 3000 BCE.
Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire – Mehmed II, or Mehmed the Conqueror (30 March 1432 – 3 May 1481), was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire twice. For a short time the first reign was from 1444 to September 1446 and later lasted from February 1451 to 1481. At 21, he conquered Constantinople and ended the Byzantine Empire, transforming the Ottoman state into an empire. Mehmed continued his conquests in Asia, with the Anatolian reunification, and in Europe, as far as Bosnia and Croatia. Mehmed II was a national hero in Turkey, and among other things, Istanbul’s Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, Fatih University and Fatih College are named after him. He was buried in his Türbe in the cemetery within the Fatih Mosque Complex. The cause of his death was poisoning, but it was disputed on whose behalf.
Nefertiti & Akhenaten
Neferneferuaten Nefertiti (ca. 1370 BC – ca. 1330 BC) was the Great Royal Wife (chief consort) of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution in which they worshipped one god only, Aten, or the sun disc. They reigned with her husband in what was arguably the wealthiest period of Ancient Egyptian history.
Akhenaten, known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV (sometimes given its Greek form, Amenophis IV, meaning Amun is Satisfied), was a Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt, ruled for 17 years, and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is especially noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centred on the Aten, sometimes described as monotheistic or henotheistic.
Menes & Sobek
Menes (Egyptian: Meni; Ancient Greek: Μήνης; Arabic: مينا) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the early dynastic period, credited by classical tradition with having united Upper and Lower Egypt and as the founder of the first dynasty (Dynasty I). The identity of Menes is the subject of ongoing debate, although the mainstream Egyptological consensus identifies Menes with the pharaoh Narmer (most likely) or the first dynasty Hor-Aha lost.”
Sobek was an ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and fluid nature. He is associated with the Nile crocodile. Therefore, ancients are represented in its form or a human with a head of a crocodile. He was also associated with pharaonic power, fertility, and military prowess. He also served as a protective deity with qualities invoked particularly for protection against the dangers of the Nile River.
Nut
Nut – To the ancient Egyptians, she was the personification of the sky (initially, she was a goddess of just the sky at day, where the clouds formed) and the heavens. She was the daughter of the god Shu, and Tefnut, the granddaughter of the sun god Ra. Her husband was also her brother, Geb. In addition, she was the mother of five children on the five extra days of the Egyptian calendar, won by Thoth. Osiris was born on the first day, Horus the Elder on the second, Set on the third, Isis on the fourth, and Nephthys was born last on the fifth day. The days these deities were born were known as the five days of the year and were celebrated all over Egypt.
Anubis & Horus
Anubis, the Greek name for a jackal-headed god, was associated with mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion. He was usually portrayed as a half-human – half jackal, or incomplete jackal, wearing a ribbon and holding a flail in the crook of its arm. According to the Akkadian transcription in the Amarna letters, Anubis’s name was vocalised in Egyptian as Anapa.
Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in ancient Egyptian religion who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and treated as distinct gods by Egyptian specialists. He was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a lanner or peregrine, or as a man with a falcon head.
Horus Eye
Horus Eye (or Ujat, meaning “hole One” is a powerful symbol of protection in ancient Egypt and the “all-seeing eye”. It was frequently used in jewellers made of gold, silver, wood, porcelain, and carnelian to ensure the safety and health of the bearer and provide wisdom and prosperity. However, Egyptians considered the eye of Ra as a powerful destructive force linked with the fierce heat of the sun, the daughter of Ra. An ancient myth tells a battle between Horus and Set in which Horus’right eye was torn out and Set his testicles!
This myth explicitly states that god Set tore out Horus’s left eye. Thus, the legend relates to the waxing and waning of the moon, during which the moon appears to have been torn out of the sky before being restored once every lunar month. Thoth magically restored Horus’ eye, at which point ancients were given the name “adjet” (hole).
Pyramids
Pyramids – The most famous Egyptian pyramids are those found at Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo. Several Giza pyramids count high among the most significant structures ever built. The Pyramid of Khufu at Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The ancient Egyptians regarded the shape of a pyramid as representative of the descending rays of the sun.
Furthermore, Egyptians covered most pyramids with polished, highly reflective white limestone to give them a brilliant appearance when viewed from a distance. The three most prominent are: the Pyramid of Menkaure, the Pyramid of Khafre and the Great Pyramid of Khufu. The three smaller pyramids in the foreground are the subsidiary structures associated with Menkaure’s pyramid.
