Sphinx. Reflections on the Meaning of History (1987)

Monuments of Ancient Egypt.

Photographs of the Sphinx.

Ancient frescoes on the sarcophagus, fragments of frescoes, images of ancient Egyptian gods.

Ancient jug in the sand.

Birds in the sky against the background of the sphinx's head (combined shooting).

Academician B.B. Piotrovsky works at his desk, his interview is heard off-screen.

Photographs of excavations in Egypt near the pyramids in the early 20th century.

Photograph of a sculptural portrait of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Photographs of archaeologists excavating Tutankhamun's tomb.

Sculptural image of Tutankhamun made of gold.

Tutankhamun's sarcophagus.

Photographs of the sarcophagus.

Golden sculpture of Tutankhamun.

Face of B.B. Piotrovsky.

Photographs of ancient Egyptian sculptures.

Piotrovsky sits in a chair at the foot of the statue in one of the halls of the Hermitage.

Antique statue.

Piotrovsky walking through the halls of the Hermitage, antique statues in the halls of the Hermitage.

Photographs of Piotrovsky with his brothers as children.

Illustrations of the Battle of Borodino and the battles of 1812. Newsreel: a tram passing along a Moscow street (above), panorama of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

Interior views of the temple, iconostasis, portraits of M.I. Kutuzov, Bagration, heroes of the war of 1812. Architectural decorations of the outer walls of the temple, bas-reliefs.

The enclosure of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior with dismantling planks before the start of its demolition in 1931. Carpenters hammer nails into the fence boards.

Military buglers walking along the street.

A pioneer detachment marching along the street (above).

The explosion and collapse of the chapels of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in 1931. Demonstration in Moscow under anti-religious slogans.

Ruins of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

Drawings and engravings depicting the Sphinx and the construction of the pyramids in Ancient Egypt.

Photographs of the pyramids of Djoser and Cheops.

The face of B.B. Piotrovsky.

Newsreel from the 1920s-1930s: speakers at a rally.

Detachments of Young Pioneers and Komsomol members march in formation.

Performance of the amateur theater "Blue Blouse".

A man blows a whistle.

Participants of the amateur theater pretend to be an airplane.

The artists change costumes.

A musician at the piano.

The artists perform another number.

Demonstration against the background of newsreel of the construction of industrial and transport facilities in the first five-year plan (combined shooting).

The face of B.B. Piotrovsky.

Piotrovsky plays solitaire while sitting at a table, his interview is heard off-screen.

Ancient Egyptian figurine from the Hermitage collection.

Mountain landscapes of Armenia.

Photographs of Piotrovsky and his colleagues during archaeological excavations of an ancient fortress in the kingdom of Urartu and on the hill Karmir-Blur in the Armenian SSR. Mountain landscape of Armenia, panorama of an ancient temple.

Walls and columns of the temple.

Drinking fountain.

Stream in a mountain stream.

Newsreel: workers leaving the workshop for a May Day demonstration.

Builders walk along a train car.

A column of demobilized Red Army soldiers leaves for the construction of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works.

Workers ride on a railway platform.

Earthworks at the construction of one of the industrial facilities, Mayakovsky's poems are read off-screen by the author.

Bricks are passed along the chain.

Masons lay bricks.

Poster with Mayakovsky's poems.

Photograph by V.V. Mayakovsky.

One of the posters of the First Five-Year Plan.

Newsreel: construction of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station.

Transportation of soil in hand wheelbarrows.

Photographs by Mayakovsky.

Rembrandt's painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son", faces in the painting.

Photograph of Mayakovsky on his deathbed.

Newsreel: a funeral wreath of gears on Mayakovsky's grave from metalworkers.

Mayakovsky's relatives during the poet's funeral on April 17, 1930. The face of a pioneer girl giving a salute.

People on roofs and balconies on the day of Mayakovsky's funeral.

Orators speaking at the funeral meeting.

Lunacharsky A.V. speaking from the podium.

The funeral procession with Mayakovsky's coffin moves along the aisle in a crowd of people.

Swans sit on the water's surface.

Fragments of ancient Egyptian frescoes.

Half-broken jugs and a bowl with grains on pebbles.

Archaeologists excavating an ancient burial site.

Bones of skeletons and skulls of people and animals found during excavations.

Cold weapons found during excavations.

Piotrovsky shows his guest the exposition of the Egyptian halls of the Hermitage.

Ancient Egyptian statuette in the exposition of the Hermitage.

Mountain landscapes, B.B. Piotrovsky’s reasoning is heard in the background.

Piotrovsky at the site of former excavations.

Piotrovsky talks with Armenian archaeologists, faces of archaeologists.

Archaeologists during a meeting at the site of former excavations on the Karmir-Blur hill.

Face of one of the archaeologists.

Photographs of archaeologists at the Karmir-Blur excavations.

Model of the temple, recreated on the basis of the excavation data.

Newsreel: excavations on Karmir-Blur.

Piotrovsky walks through the territory of former excavations.

Panorama of the abandoned excavation and excavated walls of the fortress.

Face of Piotrovsky and Armenian archaeologists during a meeting.

Face of a female archaeologist.

Photographs of her children and husband.

Piotrovsky and his wife go to visit their Armenian colleagues, meeting near the house in the garden.

Newsreel of the winter of 1941-1942: people on the streets of besieged Leningrad, corpses of people who died of hunger.

Women draw water from an ice hole.

Children pull a coffin on a sled past the statues of the Sphinx.

A lonely passerby on a snow-covered city street.

People in the library reading room.

Atlantean figures damaged by shelling at the entrance to the Hermitage.

Photographs of the halls and exhibits of the Hermitage during the blockade and Piotrovsky with an exhibit in his hands.

Publication of Piotrovsky's monograph "History and Culture of Urartu".

The text of the dedication to those who died defending Leningrad.

Floating swans.

A woman picks flowers.

Mountain landscape (panorama).

Piotrovsky and a colleague walk through a park in Yerevan, talking as they go.

The dome of the observatory.

Piotrovsky talks with a colleague while sitting on a bench.

Faces of people talking.

People on the bridge over the Winter Canal in Leningrad.

People go out onto Palace Square through the General Staff Arch, view of the square and the Hermitage building.

Views of Leningrad streets during the evening holiday fireworks, people walking.

Fireworks over Palace Square.

Piotrovsky with his grandson watching the fireworks at the Hermitage window.

Paintings by Renaissance masters, fireworks in the sky over Leningrad.

Silhouette of the Sphinx statue against the evening sky.