Egyptian Antiquities

Foto: Peter de Ru

When you approach Capri the chapel of San Michele is the first thing that can be seen. It is also the location of the Egyptan Sphinx, the famous granite statue, half lion, half woman. With good vision and a small telescope you should be able to see her face.

When the Roman emperor Tiberius lived on the island, the sphinx was already 1000 years old. We’ll probably never know how Axel Munthe found his sphinx. It probably doesn’t even come from the island, but it does come from Egypt and it has adorned a villa in the Roman Empire. Now the fantasy creature is on the last outpost of Axel Munthe’s villa looking towards the rising sun in the east.

Inside the chapel there is another masterpiece from Egypt, the so-called Horus falcon.

Cecilia Klynne