The Sphinx - Bucegi National Park, Romania

Romania (ⁱ/roʊˈmeɪniə/ roh-MAY-nee-ə; dated spellings Roumania and Rumania; Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the intersection of Central and Southeastern Europe, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south. At 238,400 square kilometres (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the eighth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with more than 19 million people. Its capital and biggest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU.

The Bucegi Mountains (Romanian: Munţii Bucegi [ˈmunt͡sij buˈt͡ʃed͡ʒʲ] ( listen)) are located in central Romania, south of the city Braşov. They are part of the Southern Carpathians group of the Carpathian Mountains.

To the east, the Bucegi Mountains have a very steep slope towards the popular tourist destination Prahova Valley (a.o. Buşteni and Sinaia). At a higher elevation is the Bucegi Plateau, where wind and rain have turned the rocks into spectacular figures such as the Sphinx and Babele.

The Bucegi is believed to be the Dacian holy mountain Kogainon, on which the God Zalmoxis resided in a cave.

The Sphinx is a natural rock formation in the Bucegi Mountains in Romania. It is located at an altitude of 2,216 metres (7,270 ft), a 10-minute walk from the Babele. The first photo of the Great Bucegi Sfinx was probably taken in about the year 1900. This photo was taken from a front position, not from a lateral one, as it appears in the usual pictures nowadays. This way it was only named in the year 1936. The image of the sphinx appeared when the rock, having an 8 m height and a 12 m width, was watched from a certain angle. The megalith has its clearest outline on 21st November, at the time the sun goes down.