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The Luxor Obelisks (French: ''Obélisques de Louxor'') are a pair of Ancient Egyptian obelisks, over 3,000 years old, carved to stand either side of the portal of the
Luxor Temple The Luxor Temple ( ar, معبد الأقصر) is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River in the city today known as Luxor (ancient Thebes) and was constructed approximately 1400 BCE. In the Egyptian lan ...
in the reign of
Ramesses II Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded as t ...
(). The right-hand (western) stone, high, was moved in the 1830s to the Place de la Concorde in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, France, while the left-hand (eastern) obelisk remains in its location in Egypt. The Luxor Obelisk in Paris was classified officially as a ''
monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...
'' in 1936.


Together in Egypt


Creation

The
Luxor Temple The Luxor Temple ( ar, معبد الأقصر) is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River in the city today known as Luxor (ancient Thebes) and was constructed approximately 1400 BCE. In the Egyptian lan ...
predated Ramesses II by about 150 years. During his reign, renovations were made that included the addition of the two obelisks. The obelisks were each carved from a single piece of red granite, quarried about south of Luxor in Aswan, transported on a specially designed barge, and lowered into place with ropes and sand.


Physical features

The two obelisks were slightly different heights, and the one remaining in Luxor is taller. The shorter obelisk was mounted on a taller pedestal and placed farther from the pylon than the other. To an advancing spectator the obelisks may have appeared to be the same height, and this design choice may have been highly deliberate. The obelisk remaining in Luxor is leaning. The Paris obelisk has a fissure in the original stone that had been tended to in antiquity. The eastern and western faces of each obelisk were slightly convex, the only two ancient obelisks with the feature, and the reason for this is not understood.


Hieroglyphics

Both obelisks are marked with
hieroglyphics Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,0 ...
. In the 1800s
François Chabas François Joseph Chabas (2 January 1817, Briançon, Hautes-Alpes – 17 May 1882, Versailles) was a French Egyptologist. Chabas came from a modest background, studied at Chalon and became a wine merchant. Self-taught, he learned Latin, Greek ...
produced a full translation of the western (Paris) obelisk, which is about Ramesses II,
Amun-Ra Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...
, and
Horus Horus or Heru, Hor, Har in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as god of kingship and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the Pt ...
, and can be rea
here


Luxor Obelisk in Paris


Idea

The idea to transport the Luxor Obelisks to Paris appeared first during
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's campaign in Egypt. On March 21, 1799, General Louis-Charles-Antoine Desaix wrote a letter to Napoleon informing him of the existence of two obelisks in Thebes which would constitute an extraordinary sight once brought to Paris. Similarly,
Vivant Denon Dominique Vivant, Baron Denon (4 January 1747 – 27 April 1825) was a French artist, writer, diplomat, author, and archaeologist. Denon was a diplomat for France under Louis XV and Louis XVI. He was appointed as the first Director of the Louvre ...
recalls in his 1802 ''Voyage dans la basse et la Haute Égypte'' the possibility to bring the obelisks to Paris as a trophy of French conquest. Finally, on October 8, 1800
Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle (3 January 1748, in Le Mans – 20 March 1835, in Paris) was a French engineer, scientist and pioneer of ballooning. Life He got to know the physicist Alexandre Charles and, in the wake of the experiences of the Montg ...
presented before the
Institut d'Égypte The Institut d'Égypte or Egyptian Scientific Institute is a learned society in Cairo specializing in Egyptology. It was established in 1798 by Napoleon Bonaparte to carry out research during his Egyptian campaign and is the oldest scientific inst ...
in Cairo the first technical considerations on the transport and erection of one of the obelisks to the Place de la Concorde. With the eventual end of the French Campaign in Egypt, these plans, however, were never realized. Under Napoleon's successor,
Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in e ...
, the French acquired rights to
Cleopatra's Needle Cleopatra's Needles are a separated pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks now in London and New York City. The obelisks were originally made in Heliopolis (modern Cairo) during the New Kingdom period, inscribed by the 18th dynasty pharaoh Thutmose ...
in
Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
, though this obelisk was never moved to France and ended up in New York City in 1881. In the 1820s
King Charles X Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and Loui ...
opened an Egyptian Museum and sought an obelisk as a piece of Egyptian art. Around this time,
Jean-François Champollion Jean-François Champollion (), also known as Champollion ''le jeune'' ('the Younger'; 23 December 17904 March 1832), was a French philologist and orientalist, known primarily as the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs and a founding figure in th ...
, who had recently achieved prominence for his decipherment of the Rosetta hieroglyphs, saw the Luxor obelisks for the first time and urged the French government to acquire them over any other obelisks.


Gift

In November 1830,
Muhammad Ali Pasha Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt and the Sudan ( sq, Mehmet Ali Pasha, ar, محمد علي باشا, ; ota, محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849), was ...
, ruler of
Ottoman Egypt The Eyalet of Egypt (, ) operated as an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire from 1517 to 1867. It originated as a result of the conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517, following the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–17) and the ...
, officially gave the Luxor obelisks to France. In so doing he reversed a previous gift of the two obelisks to the British: on a suggestion by France's Consul-General Mimault, himself inspired by Champollion, he instead gave the UK the obelisk of
Hatshepsut Hatshepsut (; also Hatchepsut; Egyptian: '' ḥꜣt- špswt'' "Foremost of Noble Ladies"; or Hatasu c. 1507–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the second historically confirmed female pharaoh, af ...
in
Karnak Temple The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Constru ...
, which was in fact impractical to extract from the surrounding stone structures as Champollion knew well; the British nevertheless accepted. Also, French diplomat
Baron Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor was born in Brussels on 5 August 1789 and died in Paris on 6 September 1879. He was closely associated with the development of French theatre, a noted traveller and author, and a philanthropist. Life and career Isid ...
, Mimault's senior, finalized the terms of the gift despite having been mandated to do so by Charles X, who had been overthrown in the meantime by the
July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (french: révolution de Juillet), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after the first in 1789. It led to the overthrow of King ...
. In reciprocation for the gift, France gave the Ottomans a mechanical clock in the 1840s, today known as the Cairo Citadel Clock. The clock has rarely worked since its arrival in Cairo, but in 2021 the Supreme Council of Antiquities announced that "Egypt is seeking to repair the citadel clock, one of the oldest of its type in the world, so that it will work again." In 1981, President François Mitterrand of France definitively renounced possession of the second obelisk, thus restoring its property to Egypt.


Transport and re-erection

It was decided that the western (shorter) obelisk would be moved first, and in 1831, it was taken down. It was transported by a ship custom-built for the transport, the ''Luxor''. It arrived in Paris in 1833 and was erected in 1836 at the centre of Place de la Concorde by King Louis-Phillipe. Champollion could not see the completion of his project, since he died on as the obelisk was still between Luxor and Alexandria. The total cost of relocating the obelisk was estimated at 2.5 million francs (equivalent to an estimated €16 million or $19 million in 2020). The high cost may be why the second obelisk was never moved. The choice of the Concorde was politically expedient, because that spot was iconioc and emotionally charged - not least for having been the main location of the
guillotine A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at t ...
during the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...
- and it was difficult to find a way to fill it in a way that would convey sufficient prestige but not inflame political passions. The obelisk matched these criteria perfectly, given its antiquity and lack of connection with French history. It won over alternative options including the
Cour Carrée The Cour Carrée (Square Court) is one of the main courtyards of the Louvre Palace in Paris. The wings surrounding it were built gradually, as the walls of the medieval Louvre were progressively demolished in favour of a Renaissance palace. Const ...
of the
Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central ...
, which had been recommended by such luminaries as Edme-François Jomard and
Vivant Denon Dominique Vivant, Baron Denon (4 January 1747 – 27 April 1825) was a French artist, writer, diplomat, author, and archaeologist. Denon was a diplomat for France under Louis XV and Louis XVI. He was appointed as the first Director of the Louvre ...
, but would have been technically more difficult.


Pedestal

In 1839, diagrams explaining the complex machinery that was used for the transportation were added to the pedestal. The original Egyptian pedestals involved sculptures of
baboon Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma b ...
s with prominent male genitalia, raising their hands to the sun. A fragment of this original pedestal from the rear of the remaining obelisk was brought to Paris at the same time as the obelisk, intended to be displayed with it. Deemed too obscene for public exhibition, it was sent to the Egyptian section of
the Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
.


Pyramidion

France added a gold-leafed pyramid cap to the top of the obelisk in 1998, with the costs covered by sponsorship from Yves Saint Laurent. It had long been suspected that the bare
pyramidion A pyramidion (plural: pyramidia) is the uppermost piece or capstone of an Egyptian pyramid or obelisk. Speakers of the Ancient Egyptian language referred to pyramidia as ''benbenet''  and associated the pyramid as a whole with the sacred ...
had originally been covered with a bronze, gold, or
electrum Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, with trace amounts of copper and other metals. Its color ranges from pale to bright yellow, depending on the proportions of gold and silver. It has been produced artificially, a ...
cap, speculated to have been stolen in the 500s BC. With the pedestal and cap, the height of the monument is approximately 33.37m (109ft).


Modern events

* On 1 December 1993, demonstrators from , an organization dedicated to fighting
AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...
, covered the Parisian obelisk with a giant pink condom to mark
World AIDS Day World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease. The acquired immun ...
. * In 1998 Alain "Spiderman" Robert, the French urban climber, illegally scaled the Parisian obelisk without the use of any ropes or other climbing equipment or safety devices. *In 1998, the monument was covered by a replica trophy as part of the
1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...
*In 1999 as part of Paris's millennium celebration activities, 300 brass disks and nearly 1,000 feet of yellow thermosensitive strips were placed around the obelisk in order to use the it as the
gnomon A gnomon (; ) is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The term is used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields. History A painted stick dating from 2300 BC that was excavated at the astronomical site of Taosi is the o ...
of a functioning
sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...
. They remained until the end of the year 2000. *In 2015 Milène Guermont's monumental interactive sculpture PHARES was displayed next to the obelisk for several months, where it was designed to illuminate the obelisk.


See also

*
Obelisk making technology in ancient Egypt An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...
*
Cleopatra's Needle Cleopatra's Needles are a separated pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks now in London and New York City. The obelisks were originally made in Heliopolis (modern Cairo) during the New Kingdom period, inscribed by the 18th dynasty pharaoh Thutmose ...
*
List of Egyptian obelisks Obelisks had a prominent role in the architecture and religion of ancient Egypt. This list contains all known remaining ancient Egyptian obelisks. The list does not include modern or pre-modern pseudo-Egyptian obelisks, such as the List_of_obelisk ...


References

* *Follert, Michael. (2014)
Enjoyment Petrification: The Luxor obelisk in a melancholic century.
*Levin, William C. (2006)
Cultural Commentary: Le Vin in Paris
Bridgewater Review, 25(1), 30-32. Available at:
Place de la Concorde: Obélisque de Luxor
{{Coord, 48, 51, 56, N, 2, 19, 16, E, source:viwiki_region:FR, display=title Ancient Egyptian obelisks Buildings and structures in the 8th arrondissement of Paris Obelisks in France Seti I Ramesses II Monuments and memorials in Paris Relocated Egyptian obelisks