Luxor Obelisk

The Obelisk of Luxor at the center of the Place de la Concorde.

Detail of the pedestal.

The remaining obelisk at Luxor Temple Pylon.

The Luxor Obelisk (French: Obélisque de Louxor) is a 23 metres (75 ft) high Egyptian obelisk standing at the center of the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France. It was originally located at the entrance to the Luxor Temple, in Egypt.

History

Two 3,300-year-old twin obelisks once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple.

Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Wāli and self-proclaimed Khedive of Egypt, offered the two obelisks to France as a gift in 1829.

The first obelisk arrived in Paris on December 21, 1833. Three years later, on October 25, 1836, King Louis-Philippe of France had it placed in the center of Place de la Concorde.

The other obelisk remained on location in Egypt. In the 1990s, President François Mitterrand, as a symbolic gesture, officially renounced this second obelisk back to the Egyptians.^{[citation needed]}

Features

The obelisk, a red granite column, rises 23 metres (75 ft) high, including the base, and weighs over 250 metric tons (280 short tons). It is decorated with hieroglyphics exalting the reign of the pharaoh Ramses II.

Given the technical limitations of the day, transporting it was no easy feat: on the pedestal are drawn diagrams explaining the complex machinery that were used for the transportation. The obelisk is flanked on both sides by fountains constructed at the time of its erection on the Place.

Missing its original pyramidion (believed stolen in the 6th century BCE), the government of France added a gold-leafed pyramid cap to the top of the obelisk in 1998.

Modern events

• Early morning on December 1, 1993, the French AIDS fighting society Act Up Paris carried out a fast and unwarned commando-style operation. A giant pink condom was unrolled over the whole monument.^[1]

• Without warning, in 1998 and 2000 French urban climber Alain "Spiderman" Robert, using only his bare hands and climbing shoes on his feet and with no safety devices, scaled the obelisk all the way to the top.

See also

• Cleopatra's Needle

References

1. ^ One participant recounts (in French) her experience, and a photo is shown at [1]

External links

• Place de la Concorde: Obélisque de Luxor

Coordinates: 48°51′56″N 2°19′16″E / 48.86556°N 2.32111°E / 48.86556; 2.32111