An image shared on Facebook purportedly shows snow blanketing the Great Sphinx in Egypt during the winter of 1910.

Verdict: False

The image actually shows a miniature Sphinx replica in Nikko, Japan.

Fact Check:

The picture of the Sphinx dusted with snow started recirculating as winter weather in late February affected some areas in the Middle East. In the text accompanying the photo, the Facebook user says, “In a rare photo that has been updated, the Statue of the Sphinx in the Pyramids of Giza area Covered with snow in the winter of 1910 .. Egypt.”

Through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact found the picture in a 2008 LiveJournal post, where the author describes a trip to Nikko, Japan. The photo shows a miniature reproduction at the Tobu World Market theme park in Nikko, not the actual Great Sphinx in Egypt. (RELATED: Viral Image Claims To Show Ice-Covered Boats In Texas During February 2021)

The Tobu World Square is an “architectural museum with skillful reproductions of 102 world-famous buildings on the 1/25 scale, including 47 World Heritage Sites,” according to its website. It has miniature reproductions of Egypt’s Great Sphinx, France’s Eiffel Tower and India’s Taj Mahal, among other famous landmarks.

The claim that the picture shows the snow-covered Great Sphinx in Egypt previously went viral following a snow storm in the Middle East in 2013. That winter storm brought snow and wind to parts of countries such as Israel, Syria and Lebanon, The Washington Post reported.

BuzzFeed News debunked the claim that year, and the Associated Press more recently addressed it in 2021.