What is Kryptos?
Q: What is Kryptos?
A: Kryptos is a sculpture located on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia, USA. It has codes (secret hidden messages) on it and was made by Jim Sanborn in 1990. The word Kryptos comes from the Greek language and means "hidden".
Q: How many messages are there on Kryptos?
A: There are four messages on Kryptos. Three of them have been deciphered, but the fourth one remains a mystery.
Q: Who was the first person to decipher three of the messages?
A: Jim Gillogly was the first person to decipher three of the messages in 1999.
Q: What other sculptures has Jim Sanborn made with secret messages?
A: After making Kryptos, Jim Sanborn created two other sculptures with secret messages - Antipodes and Cyrillic Projector. Both were independently cracked by different people - Michael Bales and Frank Corr for Cyrillic Projector in 2003 and an unnamed man for Antipodes.
Q: Are there any books that talk about Kryptos?
A: Yes, Dan Brown wrote two famous books that talk about Kryptos - The Da Vinci Code (2003) and The Lost Symbol (2009). On the cover of The Da Vinci Code art there are secret messages which mention Kryptos as well.
Q: Where is Antipodes located?
A: One copy of Antipodes belongs to a man in California while another is located at Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC.
Q: How big is Kryptos? A:Kryptos is approximately 12 feet high and 20 feet long and is made out of metal and different kinds of rocks with thousands of letters written into it.
