Egyptian anger as fake Sphinx is resurrected

EGYPT has called on the UN to intervene as it tries to get a full-size replica of the Great Sphinx of Giza in a Chinese theme park demolished.

Cairo contacted Unesco to demand the removal of the structure in Hebei province, which was erected in 2014.

The replica sparked protests from Egyptian ministers who claimed it was “a bad imitation that disfigures the original” and violated international conventions as it was used as a film and television location.

Theme park officials denied it was an insult to Egypt’s cultural heritage. However, they appeared to back down and removed the head in 2016, only for it to be reattached last month.

Egyptian authorities have now contacted Unesco to demand its removal.

“The Ministry of Antiquities is taking measures through Unesco because it is a violation of Egypt’s intellectual property and eventually China will remove the fake Sphinx,” Ashraf Mohi Aldin, the general manager of Giza Pyramid Plateau, told The Daily Telegraph. He said that Egypt was not concerned that the Chinese Sphinx would deplete its tourist numbers because “no one will leave the original Sphinx and go to visit the fake one”. Additional reporting by Christine Wei

Ministers said they were not worried that the copycat sphinx would hit tourism but that it breached Egypt’s intellectual property