Over the years, the plaster statues that had become covered in sand survived, while those that remained exposed to the elements crumbled. Jenzen believes the city disappeared over time not because it was blown up or buried, but because it was left alone. Personally, I donвЂ™t think it was buried, because everything is pretty much exactly where it was during filming.вЂќ вЂњThere is no scatter pattern that would be associated with an explosion. A 12-story-tall city disappeared.Д®xcept, вЂњthere is no archeological evidence that it was blown up,вЂќ says Doug Jenzen, executive director of the Dunes Center in Guadalupe. To ensure no one else could use it, he was said to have blown it up or buried it. Transporting the set back to Hollywood was too expensive, so DeMille left it in the dunes. The number of people - 3,500 - and animals - 5,000 - used in filming was just as impressive.ДЄnd then the elaborate structures were left behind. It was there, in 1923, in the middle of 300 square miles of sand dunes, that he built what was then thought to be the largest and most expensive movie set ever constructed.Дescriptions of the set are filled with numbers: 550,000 feet of lumber, 300 tons of plaster and 25,000 pounds of nails used to construct a city designed by Art Deco artist Paul Iribe that was almost 800 feet wide and 120 feet tall. DeMille spent four months searching for the perfect location for his silent-era film вЂњThe Ten CommandmentsвЂќ before settling on the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes, 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles. They called it вЂњCity of the PharaohвЂќ - and it was fake, a creation not of Egyptians but of Hollywood.Д¬ecil B. There were thousands of humans and even more camels, horses, sheep and donkeys. There were four 35-foot-tall statues of Pharaoh Ramses the Great and an avenue of 21 sphinx statues, each around 13 feet tall and 22 feet long.

Ten commandments movie locations