Getting to the sphinxes on Sverdlovskaya Embankment is not easy. The nearest metro station is “Ploshchad Lenina.” But from there you need to walk about three kilometers away from the city center. It is there that you will be greeted by 4 mysterious creatures guarding the embankment.
A very curious story is connected with these sphinxes. Once, here on the Neva embankment, there was a pier to which two granite-clad staircases led. Between them, a grotto was built where a spring flowed with water possessing miraculous power. The healing spring was guarded by two pairs of mythical creatures. Two sphinxes were on the roof of the grotto, and the other two were right at the water’s edge. Now, however, the spring is gone, but the sphinxes remain.
The exact address of these architectural monuments is: Sverdlovskaya Embankment, 40, Kushelev-Bezborodko Dacha. In addition to the two pairs of sphinxes, this place is also interesting because the dacha is separated from the roadway by a fence with sculptures of 29 lions bound by a single chain.
