The very first sphinxes to appear in Petersburg were two sphinxes, over a meter long, made by an unknown Russian sculptor at the end of the 18th century from pink granite, now lying solemnly on low pedestals in the courtyard of the Stroganov Palace. They look more naive and archaic than the Egyptian patriarchs, which is not surprising, as this was a completely new tradition at the time. It was from them that the fashion for decorating homes with Egyptian deities began in Saint Petersburg.

Since 1796, they adorned the pier at the Stroganov dacha on the shore of the Bolshaya Nevka. After the reconstruction of the Stroganov dacha in 1908, the sphinxes changed their "residence" several times and finally ended up in the courtyard of the Stroganov Palace on Nevsky Prospect, house 17.

The sphinxes are shorter than human height and can be well examined. Time has left its mark on them: traces of age and human impact are visible. It is believed that these sphinxes are female. There is a belief — if you stroke this sphinx, it will become your secret protector and guard your possessions.

In the 1950s, these sphinxes served as models for the restoration of figures of mythical beasts on the pier of the Sverdlovsk Embankment. Four original figures disappeared from the Sverdlovsk (then Polyustrovskaya) Embankment in the second half of the 19th century.