Luxor Obelisk - Paris, France - Gifts from Other Countries on Waymarking.com

The obelisk is 75 feet tall and weighs 250 metric tons. It is one of a pair of obelisks which once stood at the Temple of Luxor in Egypt. It is 3300 years old.
Wikipedia (visit link) adds:
"Two 3,300-year-old twin obelisks once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple.

Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Wali 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
...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."

This website (visit link) adds:

"King Louis-Phillipe I chose the Place de la Concorde for the obelisk to help change its bloody image-the location where King Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and other victims of the French Revolution met the blade of the guillotine in 1793.



This pink granite monument, measures 75 feet (23 meters) in height and weighs 280 tons (250 metric tons), was erected using what was then state-of-the-art elevating machinery. Its hieroglyphics pay tribute to the reign of the pharaoh Ramses II. Images of the installation are engraved on the base of the obelisk, replacing the original carvings of baboons, which are now on display in the Louvre. The obelisk is flanked on both sides by fountains constructed at the time of its placement on the Place.



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

Country or International City that Gave the Gift: Egypt Country or International City that Received the Gift: France Website Verifying this Item as a Gift from Another Country or International City: [Web Link]

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