Cleopatra, Napoleon, Queen Victoria and a Vanderbilt: How Three Ancient Egyptian Obelisks Ended Up Halfway Across the World

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cleopatra-napoleon-queen-victoria-and-a-vanderbilt-how-three-ancient-egyptian-obelisks-ended-up-halfway-across-the-world-in-new-york-city-paris-and-london?ref=scroll

William H Vanderbilt, whose money had funded the majority of the obelisk’s journey out of Egypt, pressed for it to be placed on a knoll near the newly constructed Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park. In the end, his opinion won out and the obscure hilltop was readied for its new occupant.

Despite officially owning both obelisks at Luxor, France never sought to retrieve the twin to the one erected in Paris. Nor did they ever attempt to fetch Cleopatra’s Needle in Alexandria. It seems they were quite satisfied with the experience of having transported one ancient 200-ton monolith across the sea. No need for any more.

A 236-ton block was hauled from Brittany to be carved. At last, on Oct. 25, 1836, the Luxor Obelisk was hoisted into place using a reverse implementation of the same methods employed to lower it from its former home in Egypt. US Navy Admiral Seaton Schroeder pointed out that the obelisk had been “brought from the silent ruins of the greatest city of the ancient world, to the brightest and gayest of modern capitals.” It stood precisely where King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had been executed just 43 years prior.

Ancient Egyptians referred to obelisks as “tekhenu,” which means “to pierce the sky.” They were dedicated to the sun-god Ra and were “a symbolic representation of the sun’s rays.” The word “obelisk” originated centuries later, derived from the Greek word “obeliskos,” which means a sharpened object, usually a spit for cooking over a fire.