About the “Kryptos” Sculpture
James Sanborn’s sculpture “Kryptos” begins at the entrance to the New Headquarters Building and continues in the northwest corner of the New Headquarters Building courtyard.
The theme of this sculpture is “intelligence gathering.” It was dedicated on Nov. 3, 1990. Kryptos incorporates materials native to the United States. A piece of petrified wood supports a large S-shaped copper screen that looks like a piece of paper coming out of a computer printer. On the “paper” are inscribed several enigmatic messages, each written in a different code. The sculpture continues to be a source of pleasure and mystery for Agency employees, with a few taking the challenge to “break the code.”
“Kryptos” © Copyright 1988 James Sanborn. All rights reserved.