Luxor Obelisk
The Luxor Obelisk in Paris—part of the Obélisques de Louxor—belongs to a pair carved for the Luxor Temple during the reign of Ramesses II, around the mid–13th century BC. Each was cut from a single block of red granite quarried near Aswan, transported on a specially designed barge, and lowered into place with ropes and sand. In the reign’s later renovations, the two stones were installed on either side of the Luxor Temple’s portal, and their heights differ slightly, a choice designed to equalize their appearance for an approaching viewer. What makes the Paris obelisk exceptional is its modern journey: the right-hand obelisk, 23 metres high, was gifted by Egypt to France in the 1830s and moved to the Place de la Concorde. It also carries a fissure in the original stone that was repaired in antiquity. …
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