I Love Stuff Like This

x Cleopatra's Needle [obelisk in New York]

There are three Cleopatra's Needles: in London, Paris and New York City. Each obelisk is made of red granite, stands about 68 feet high, weighs about 180 tons and is inscribed with hieroglyphs. Although the needles are genuine Ancient Egyptian obelisks, they are somewhat misnamed as they have no inscriptions associated with queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt. They were originally erected in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis on the orders of Thutmose III, around 1450 B.C.E. The quarry from which the red granite was obtained was near Aswan. The inscriptions were added about 200 years later by Ramses II to commemorate his military victories. The obelisks were later moved to Alexandria and set up in the Caesarium — a temple built by Cleopatra (hence the name Cleopatra's Needle) in honor of Mark Antony — by the Romans, during the reign of Augustus Caesar, but were later toppled. The knocking down of the obelisks allowed them to be buried in sand, which helped preserve them from local weathering.

It's there..wasting away. If you want to..you can click that link above the picture.