Why are there Egyptian obelisks in Italy?

The first obelisks were brought to Rome by Augustus after his victory of Anthony and Cleopatra. He brought two obelisks from Egypt to Rome in 10 BC, erecting one obelisk on the spina of the Circus Maximus, while the other was used as a sundial for the Horologium Augusti.



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Pope Gregory was driven by a passion for learning. He ordered that all Egyptian and “Egyptianized” artifacts in the Pontifical states (and Roman antique markets, private villa collections etc.) be gathered together in a new museum.

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Created roughly 3,500 years ago in Egypt, the Obelisk—also known as Cleopatra's Needle—was dedicated in Central Park in 1881. Standing between the Great Lawn and the Met Museum, the Obelisk is the oldest outdoor monument in NYC.

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Built in the shape of an Egyptian obelisk, evoking the timelessness of ancient civilizations, the Washington Monument embodies the awe, respect, and gratitude the nation felt for its most essential Founding Father. When completed, the Washington Monument was the tallest building in the world at 555 feet, 5-1/8 inches.

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During the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt, the French attempted to steal the two obelisks and take them back to Paris. The campaign ended before they were successful, but the French did not give up then. A mere 30 years later, the obelisks were “gifted” to the French by the Ottoman monarch Muhammed Ali Pasha.

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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.

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The Monument to the People's Heroes (Chinese: ???????; pinyin: Rénmín Yingxióng Jìniànbei) is a ten-story obelisk that was erected as a national monument of China to the martyrs of revolutionary struggle during the 19th and 20th centuries.

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The Egyptian monument represented a given pharaoh, expressing the fusion of earthly and divine power, a solar symbol of creation and regeneration. With a square base, the structure gradually tapered high up in a pyramid shape, called pyramidion.

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Scholars believe that obelisks represented eternity and immortality, and their long, tapering form functioned to connect the heavens and the earth.

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Disease, Lost Resources and Tomb Robbing (Ramses XI, who died around 1070 B.C., was the last pharaoh of the New Kingdom.) Archaeological records from this period give clues to why and how Egypt entered such a rapid decline.

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Standing between the Great Lawn and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Obelisk is the oldest outdoor monument in New York City and the oldest man-made object in Central Park. The Obelisk's history is rich and interesting, but one of the most fascinating parts of its story is its journey from Egypt to Central Park.

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