ABSTRACT
The traveller who leaves St Petersburg in winter by the southbound road meets Egyptian sphinxes in the snow at Pulkovo, where the road branches. The creation of the Tsarskoye Selo gate falls within a period when there was quite a strong Russian interest in the burgeoning academic discipline of Egyptology, and particularly in the decipherment of hieroglyphs. In Russia the Egyptian style largely predates a marked interest in or engagement with Egypt, and its roots must be seen to lie in Italy, for many of its decorative sources as well as some of its executants, and especially in France, for the impetus given by the retour d'Egypte there. In its Russian manifestations, the vogue for Égyptienneries is thus, to some extent, an indication of the capacity of the Egyptian style to flourish as a decorative form, independent of the archaeological exploration of Egypt.
