lateran Obelisk
Located in Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano, near the basilica of the same name, the Lateran Obelisk is the tallest erected of Egyptian origin in the world. It is made of red granite and comes from the Aswan area. Its height is 32.18 meters and, including the cross and the base, reaches 45.70 meters. It weighs 455 tons. It was the last, among the Capitoline obelisks, brought to Rome.
Location: Italy
Owner: Thutmose III -1479 – 1425 BC
Obelisk of Hatshepsut at Karnak
The tallest obelisk in Egypt (29.56 m, 97 ft) is in Temple of Amun at the Great Temple complex at Karnak and belonged to Hatshepsut who was a female pharaoh of Egypt in 1473–1458 BCE. was the northernmost of a pair. The southern, toppled already in antiquity, possibly due to an earthquake, leaving only the base, and the upper part lying by the sacred lake. Despite the fact that her successors systematically erased her name from her most visible monuments, it is ironic that her obelisk still stands where it was erected some 3,500 years ago. Toppling Hatshepsut’s two large obelisks, which had been erected between the fourth and fifth pylon of the Great Temple, probably proved impossible without damaging the surrounding structures. Instead, they were likely hidden behind false walls — a simple solution that rendered the obelisks practically invisible.
Location: Egypt
Owner: Hatshepsut – 1479 – 1458 BC
Vatican Obelisk
Of the 13 Egyptian obelisks brought to Rome, the Vatican Obelisk is the only ancient obelisk in Rome to have remained standing since Roman times. It was the largest non-inscribed obelisk to leave Egypt, at 25.5 m high and weighing an estimated 326 tonnes. It was Gaius Caligula who had the obelisk bought to Rome in 37 AD. The obelisk was originally erected in gardens Caligula had inherited from his mother, and then on the central spina of a circus, where it stood until 1585 when it was re-erected in its present position the centre of St Peter’s Square in the Vatican.
Location: Vatican
luxor Obelisks
Initially, both the obelisks from the Luxor Temple were promised to England. Following diplomatic negotiations they were then both gifted to France by Pasha Muhammed Ali. In return, King Louis Philippe gave the Pasha a large clock. This clock is still in place in the clock tower of the mosque at the summit of the Citadel of Cairo.
Location: Egypt – Franc
Owner: Ramesses II -1279–1213 BC
Flaminio Obelisk Rome
At the centre of Piazza del Popolo stands one of the first Egyptian obelisks brought to Rome by Augustus to mark the 20th anniversary of his conquest of Egypt in 10 BC. Made of Aswan granite, the obelisk was made for Seti I before 1300 BC, but only three sides bear his inscriptions. Ramses II had the fourth side inscribed. In Rome the Flaminio obelisk was erected at the eastern end of the spina at the Circus Maximus. During excavations in 1587 the obelisk was found and then moved to the Piazza del Popolo under instruction from Pope Sixtus V. The Egyptian style lions and basins were added in 1823 by the Italian architect Guiseppe Valadier.
Location: Italy
Owner: Seti I / Ramesses II -1294–1279 BC
Obelisk of Montecitorio
Located in Piazza di Monte Citorio, in front of the building that houses the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic, the Obelisk Campense, with the one in Piazza della Minerva, dates back to the Saitic Dynasty (XXVI), which goes from 672 to 525 BC.
It turned out to be broken into five pieces and damaged by fire. Engineer Antonio Zabaglia, an uncultured person with a remarkable talent for mechanical works, took care of the extraction and restoration. Another 40 years had to pass until 1792, when the obelisk assumed its current position, thanks to architect Giovanni Antinori.
In 1998, Piazza di Monte Citorio was restored. The old zodiacal elements and the lines recreated gave back to the obelisk its function as a sundial gnomon.
Due to the poor preservation, many of the inscriptions went lost. Only a list with the pharaoh’s names and an interpretation of natural phenomena according to the philosophy of the Egyptians remains.
Location: Italy
Owner: Psamtik II – 595–589 BC
Karnak Obelisk
Obelisk of Thutmose I- The smallest of the two remaining obelisks. Each face has three lines of inscriptions
Tuthmosis I was one of the great warrior-kings of ancient Egypt, extending his domains south into Nubia and north into Syria. In thanksgiving, he contributed many monuments in the capital town Thebes (now called Luxor). Among them, he raised a pair of obelisks here, though only one remains standing today. This obelisk id the one. There is a tomb of Aneni, one of the pharaoh’s officials, in the Theban necropolis. Its inscription relates the obelisks, “I saw to the erection of two [great] obelisks, having built an august boat 120 cubits in length and 40 cubits in width in order to transport these obelisks.” [60 meters in length and 20 meters in width] “They arrived safe and sound, and landed at Karnak.”
Location: Egypt
Owner: Thutmosis I – 1506–1493 BC
Cleopatra’s Needles
The Obelisk (Greek for “pointed instrument”) was created roughly 3,500 years ago in Egypt. To celebrate Pharaoh Thutmose III’s 30th year of reign, stonecutters carved two obelisks out of granite and installed them outside of the Temple of the Sun in the ancient Egyptian city of Heliopolis. Each one was formed from a single piece of quarried stone, to create a shaft that is 69 feet high and weighs approximately 200 tons. The obelisks rested on granite bases.
Owner: Thutmose III – 1479 – 1425 BC
Location: United Kingdom- United States
Matareya Obelisk
The Obelisk (Greek for “pointed instrument”) was created roughly 1971–1926 BC in Egypt.
Owner: Senusret I – 1971–1926 BC
Location: Egypt
Obelisk of Theodosius
The Obelisk (Greek for “pointed instrument”) was created roughly 1971–1926 BC in Egypt.
Owner: Thutmose III – 1971–1926 BC
Location: Turkey
Tahrir obelisk
The obelisk was divided into several parts. Put together, the obelisk reached a height of 19 meters and a weight of approximately 90 tons.
Carved out of pink granite, the obelisk is distinguished by the beauty of its inscriptions depicting Rameses II standing before one of the deities, surrounded by inscriptions of his various titles.
Owner: Ramesses II – 1279–1213 BC
Location: Egypt
Cairo Airport obelisk
An Egyptian obelisk built by the Pharaoh Ramses II more than 3,000 years ago has been erected outside Cairo Airport to become the first object greeting the visitor on his arrival in Cairo.
The obelisk is 63 feet high and weighs about 150 tons. It was brought from Tanis, northeast of Cairo. Ramses
Owner: Ramesses II – 1279–1213 BC
Location: Egypt
Pantheon obelisk
The Pantheon obelisk or Obelisco Macuteo is an Egyptian obelisk in Rome in Piazza della Rotonda in front of the Pantheon on a fountain. It is one of the 13 obelisks in Rome and one of relatively few ancient monoliths. It is 6.34 m high.
Owner: Ramesses II – 1279–1213 BC
Location: Italy
Gezira obelisk
The obelisk is 13.5 m (20.4 m with base) It was brought from Tanis, northeast of Cairo. Ramses
Owner: Ramesses II – 1279–1213 BC
Location: Egypt
Abgig obelisk
The Abgig obelisk is an ancient stone monument erected by the Egyptian pharaoh Senusret I in the 20th century BC near what is now Faiyum. Made of red granite, it is likely that the obelisk once stood 12.9 metres high with a base of four limestone slabs.
Owner: Senusret I – 1971–1926 BC
Location: Egypt
