Obelisk of Luxor Temple

One of the original pair of obelisks at the entrance — the other has stood in the Place de la Concorde in Paris since 1836

The single red granite obelisk standing before the entrance pylon of Luxor Temple is 25 metres tall and was carved around 1260 BC during the reign of Ramses II. Its twin stood here until 1836, when it was removed to Paris, where it now dominates the Place de la Concorde. The contrast between the two sites is one of the more interesting monuments to 19th-century colonialism: the same object, in entirely different contexts, 3,500 kilometres apart.

The reliefs on the remaining obelisk celebrate Ramses II's victories, particularly the Battle of Kadesh against the Hittites — a battle that was probably a draw but which Ramses propagandised as a triumph. The golden capstone that would have caught the first light of dawn is long gone. Stand at the base and look up to understand the scale; these were engineering achievements as well as religious ones, quarried from Aswan granite and transported 200 kilometres by river.

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A story
The two obelisks at the entrance to Luxor Temple were commissioned by Ramses II. In 1836, Muhammad Ali of Egypt gave one to France, which had it transported to Paris at enormous cost and expense and erected in the Place de la Concorde. The missing obelisk leaves the entrance asymmetrical; a scale model shows where it stood. In 1992 France returned the capstone of the Paris obelisk to Luxor as a gesture of restitution, though the main shaft remains in Paris.

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