This is the perfect place to feel small in a fun way. You’re standing across from a thing that watched the pyramids get built. It watched Caesar, Napoleon, and TikTok. It’s seen it all.
The Sphinx Statue Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images
And now it sits in a park, covered in pigeon poop, next to a man playing a bongo drum. There’s no velvet rope. No silent gallery. It’s right there. You can lean in and whisper secrets to a 3,500-year-old ram god.
The Sphinxes are hilariously misplaced. They belong in a desert, not a city that gets snow. During winter, they wear little hats of ice. It is the greatest, most ridiculous image in all of New York.
The Last Laugh
Here’s the kicker. The obelisk they guard—“Cleopatra’s Needle”—is actually the younger sibling. The Sphinxes were carved first. The stone pointy thing is just the new neighbor. The Sphinxes are the real old-timers.
They look grumpy because they’ve earned it. They’ve watched empires crumble and fashions change. And now they watch people take selfies with a flaming bag of hot chestnuts.
Go visit them. Bring a snack. Sit on the base (it’s allowed!). Stare into their eroded, sheep-ish eyes. Wink at them. They won’t wink back, but you’ll feel like you’re in on the world’s longest joke.
It’s just a rock. But it’s a very old rock with a broken chin, a missing beard, and a front-row seat to human absurdity. And that is a glorious thing to be.
