Giza sites reopen

On Nov. 10 in Egypt, after four years of renovations, the courtyard area around the Sphinx at Giza reopened to visitors.

Sitting in a horseshoe-shaped courtyard, the Sphinx was carved out of a limestone quarry that was the source of the stone blocks used in constructing the pyramids and temples of the Giza Necropolis. The renovations included shoring up walls of the quarry and repairing cracks in the neck and chest area of the Sphinx.

Also, the Menkaure pyramid, smallest of the three Great Pyramids, is reopening after four years of restoration work, and a small temple built adjacent to the Sphinx will open to visitors for the first time.