Obelisks are associated with the cult of the sun. They taper upward, carved from monolithic stones, they have a pyramidal top (pyramidion), often lined with metal (gold), to shine brightly and shine in the sun. Often they were placed in pairs at the pylons of the entrance to the temples, as well as one by one in the central part of the square in front of the temple. In our time, only a few obelisks remain in Egypt, standing in their original place - most of them were taken to other countries. In the main cities of Europe and America, about 15 of these large monoliths stand in large areas. The largest, weighing more than 1000 tons, was never completed and still lies in the quarries of Aswan.

What are obelisks for? (versions):

Obelisks were built to "communicate with the gods" and were intended forstabilization and conservation of the flowbiological time.

- Perhaps the obelisks serverepeater antennasenergy of a certain property, used by alien civilizations to control and manage humanity?

Some scholars believe that the obelisk is part ofnavigation equipmentfor alien ships, mounted on top of a tower inHeliopolis.

Here are some famous obelisks of the world. Most of them are installed in Rome.

1 . Obelisk Feodosia in Istanbul, a porphyry monolith, 25 m high, brought from the Egyptian temple at Karnak, where it was erected in honor of Thutmose III. The marble base, six meters high, is decorated with bas-reliefs.

2 .Luxor obelisk on Place de la Concorde (France). Created around 1285 BC Decorated the entrance to the temple at Luxor in Egypt, donated to FranceEgyptian Viceroy Muhammad Ali in 1830.

3. P An obelisk rises in front of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano Laterano, the tallest of the thirteen obelisks (47 meters) installed in the squares of Rome.The obelisk dates back to the era of Pharaoh Thutmose III. In 357, Emperor Constantine II, son of Constantine the Great, decorated the Massimo circus with this obelisk. When the Massimo Circus fell into ruins, by decree of Sixtus V, the obelisk was pulled out, restored and installed in front of the entrance to the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano.

4 . Obelisk Flaminia. Rome. a height of 24 meters was built for the tomb of the pharaoh Ramesse in 1232-20. BC.

5 . An Egyptian monolithic granite obelisk, 16.53 meters high, rises in the center of Piazza Navona in Rome.

6 . Obelisk Minerva arrived in Rome along with the twin obelisk, which is now at the Pantheon for the temple of Isis. This small obelisk, 5.5 meters high, appeared in front of the church in 1667 by order of Pope Alexander VII.

7 . H and St. Peter's Square in the Vatican - there is an Egyptian obelisk, brought to Rome in 37 by the emperor Caligula. The obelisk, 25.5 meters high, is made of pink granite.in 1586, Pope Sixtus V ordered the architect Domenico Fontana to install it in the square. He replaced the golden ball, once crowning the obelisk, with a Cross with a piece of the Cross of the Lord

8. A luxurious staircase with 135 steps rises to the church of Trinita del Monti. At the top of the stairs in front of the church, in 1789, an obelisk 13.91 meters high was erected.This obelisk was carved in Egypt on the instructions of the Romans. In 200 or 300 he was brought to Rome to decorate the gardens of Salustius.

9 . The columns of the Pantheon (Rome) were made of granite blocks 15 m long, delivered from Egypt. The portico of the building faces a small area of ​​the Rotunda, on which there is a fountain, created in 1711 during the time of Pope Clement XI. The composition of the fountain uses an obelisk 6.34 m high, found on the site where the temple of Isis was located in ancient times.

10 . Obelisk on Piazza del Polo. A square with three beams of streets branching off from it - one of which leads to the Vatican. At the point of their intersection, an obelisk with a height of 23.2 m and a weight of 235 tons was installed. The obelisk was created during the reign of the son of Ramesses II Merenpt (1223-1211 BC). The obelisk was installed in Heliopolis, the religious center of Ancient Egypt. In 30 BC. after the victory over Cleopatra, the future emperor Augustus ordered this obelisk to be transported to Rome and dedicated to the god Apollo, who ensured his victory.

11 . Obelisk Senusret I - the only surviving building of the ancient Heliopolis in Egypt. Its height 20,4 meters, weight - 121 ton. On the occasion of the anniversary heb seda) Senusret I two obelisks were erected in front of the temple Atum in Heliopolis (one survives) .

12. Britain's largest obelisk "Cleopatra's Needle" height 20.88 m., weight-189.35 tons. Made of pink granite.It was originally installed by order of Thutmose 3 in front of the Temple of the Sun in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis around 1450 BC. After a couple of hundred years, Pharaoh Ramses 2 ordered his military victories to be written on the obelisk.In the 12th century BC. during the reign of Caesar Augustus, the obelisk was transported to Alexandria and installed in the temple that the legendary queen Cleopatra once built in honor of her beloved Mark Antony.Presented to Great Britain by the Viceroy of Egypt Mehemed Ali in 1819 in honor of the victory of Lord Nelson at the Battle of the Nile and Sir Ralph Abercrombie at the Battle of Alexandria.

13 . Obelisk to the first US President George Washington on the National Mall (USA). The monument, almost 170 meters high, is made in the image and likeness of Egyptian obelisks. (not original)

14 . Egyptian obelisk in New York's Central Park. The obelisk from the time of Pharaoh Thutmose III dates back to about 3500 years old. It has been the pride of the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1881 as a gift from the Egyptian government. Its height is 21.6 meters, weight is 244 tons.

15. Buinos Aires (Argentina) . Artificial obelisk in honor of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city. height 67.5 m.

17 . in Aswan (Egypt) a 42-meter obelisk carved from stone remained unraveled

18. Obelisk of Constantine . Colossus(Openwork stone column) was built from stone blocks by order of Emperor Constantine VII in honor of the memory of his grandfather Basil I. The original height of the column was 32 meters, it was covered with gilded bronze sheets, which were torn off and melted down by the crusaders during the 4th crusade (1204). Currently, the height of the column is 21 meters.

In the article we will talk about what an obelisk is, when this element of architecture was first born, we will analyze the history of the Luxor obelisk.

Architecture

People have always attached great importance to art, including architecture. We know the life of most ancient civilizations mainly thanks to the preserved buildings and elements of the architectural style, for example, these are in South America. Of course, not all peoples left behind such significant traces in history, besides, even in our time, houses and other buildings are primarily used from a practical point of view, and they do not differ in centuries of durability with exquisite building solutions.

Probably the most famous historical era is Ancient Egypt. To this day, the culture of this now dead people is admired. And, in addition to the pyramids, one very important architectural element for the ancient Egyptians, such as an obelisk, has survived to this day. So what is an obelisk and how is it used today? We will talk about this.

Definition

Obelisks were also used in Ancient Greece, but there they had a purely practical meaning, for example, as gnomons (special indicators, prototypes of hour hands) of a sundial. While the obelisk is, in general, one of the favorite elements of architecture and symbolism. Let us consider in more detail the history of Egyptian obelisks and their purpose.

Device and purpose

Egyptian obelisks (at least those that have survived to this day) are monoliths that were carved from a homogeneous block of stone. Usually the material was red granite, which was mined in Aswan. And they were installed in pairs along the entrances to the temples.

Due to the imperfection of the tools, obelisks were made for a very long time and painstakingly. For example, the obelisk of Hatshepsut was carved for seven months. Now we know what an obelisk is. Consider the main characteristics.

It was customary to cover their sides with hieroglyphs, whose texts in most cases boiled down to the glorification of the gods and acting pharaohs. Sometimes, if such a structure was of particular importance, it was covered with an alloy of gold and silver. True, this was done only with the top of the obelisk. So in ancient Egypt, the obelisk is an important element of religious cult and symbolism.

Historians know for sure that the Egyptians already mastered the art of making obelisks during the 4th dynasty, but the most ancient ones that have survived to this day date back to the 5th dynasty. Their distinctive feature is their small size, a little more than three meters. If we talk about those that have survived to our times in the same place as they were installed, then the oldest is the obelisk of Senusret. And the tallest of the completed ones is the one installed in Karnak, its height is more than 24 meters. By the way, according to approximate estimates, it weighs 143 tons. As you can see, an obelisk is a structure that can be very different in size.

Spreading

Gradually, from Egypt, the obelisks began to spread throughout the world. The first countries in which the fashion for them appeared were Palestine and Phoenicia. True, they were produced there by composing them from separate segments, which greatly simplified the manufacturing process. Further, the obelisks began to spread throughout Byzantium, Assyria and even Ethiopia. A considerable number of them were taken to the Roman Empire. For example, the one that is now installed in front of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, was created in Karnak, weighs 230 tons and is 32 meters high. True, the first thing that comes to mind when looking at such an obelisk is how was it transported? Even in our time, transporting such a cargo is not such an easy task.

During the Renaissance, obelisks became popular among Italian architects as elements of the overall composition. And then, starting from the middle of the 19th century, as the interest of the public and historians in Ancient Egypt grew, many countries were engaged in the fact that they uncontrollably exported various objects of art and antiquities to themselves. For example, in St. Petersburg, there are sphinxes on the Neva embankment, but few people know that they were brought straight from Egypt, and their age is several thousand years.

Nowadays

And today obelisks are very popular as a separate sculpture of symbolic value or a monument. The largest is the Washington Monument in the United States, its height is 169 meters.

In Russia, obelisks have become widespread since the reign of Catherine II, and were installed in honor of military victories and achievements. That is, you can determine the meaning of the word "obelisk" yourself. This is an architectural monument that looks like a pillar tapering upwards.

Gradually obelisks fell out of fashion as an element of design or architecture, but began to be used as monuments of military glory. For example, very often you can find obelisks over the mass graves of the Great Patriotic War. And in Russian cities, monuments have been erected to outstanding historical and military figures of the past years, for example, an obelisk in honor of Minin and Pozharsky in Nizhny Novgorod, at the site of Suvorov's command post and others.

Luxor obelisk

In 1831, the ruler of Egypt, Mehmet Ali, presented France with the Luxor obelisk, which was originally erected in honor of Ramses II. Already in 1833, he was taken to Paris and, after a royal meeting, installed on the Place de la Concorde, where to this day you can see the obelisk. His photo is provided just above. The process of its delivery is depicted on the lower part of the monument.

which is located in Lebanon. And until now, I was sure. that it is this stone called "South Stone" that is the largest - it lies in a quarry near Baalbek. The dimensions of this stone block are 23 m long, 5.3 m wide and 4.55 m high. She weighs approximately 1000 tons.

It turns out this is not so. The largest processed stone in the world HERE:

The obelisk (entrance 1OLE.) is located on the east bank of the Nile, one kilometer from the center of Aswan. To get to the obelisk, you need to go along El-Bandar Street (el-Bandar St.). Nearby are several round-roofed tombs from an ancient Fatimid cemetery. The obelisk, merged with the rock from which they wanted to carve it, lies all over own weight (1200 t) and full length (42 m) on a granite bed.

The obelisk was intended to be erected by Queen Hatshepsut, but the obelisk was abandoned, left unfinished, because several cracks were found in it. For this reason, it has never been separated from the rock. Had it been erected, it would have been the largest obelisk known to us. It is surrounded by ancient quarries, stretching for almost 6 km, where workers worked to extract huge stone blocks for the construction of temples and palaces.

It was a hell of a job! It was necessary to gouge the rock with a hard stone so that sufficiently wide and deep cracks appeared. Wooden wedges were driven in there and water was poured over them, expanding, the wedges split the rock. The work was carried out from three sides with endless precautions at all stages so as not to split the stone block. In accordance with the intended purpose, the block was turned on the spot. Then he was placed on a wooden sled, which was dragged either by animals or people, lowering him to the water, to a special platform.

It was built from construction debris, on which masons placed several layers of bricks covered with a thick layer of wet mud. The barge, which was supposed to carry stone blocks, was placed at low tide next to the shore. The barge ran aground, and now it was possible to load it. In the next flood, the platform was again on the water and was ready for transportation. Unloading was carried out in the same way.

Considering the primitive soft metal tools of the ancient Egyptians, the North Quarry obelisk shows us an amazing feat of technology. During excavations, archaeologists learned a lot about the methods of stone cutting. And even the mistake that the builders made during its construction did not prevent it from being motionlessly attached to the rock for more than 3000 years!

At the word Ancient Egypt, the vast majority of people naturally associate with pyramids or mummies. But no less famous type of monumental architecture of the ancient Egyptians are obelisks. The word "obelisk" is of Greek origin, meaning a skewer or skewer, and it appeared in the late period, when the Greeks established close contacts with Egypt. The Egyptians themselves designated the obelisk as "ben-ben". This was the name of a pyramid-shaped stone that fell from the sky at the beginning of time, which was installed on a pillar in the sacred capital city of Innu (the Greeks called it Heliopolis). This ben-ben stone, placed on a pillar, was hidden from the eyes of the uninitiated in the temple of the Phoenix, but, as you know, it disappeared in antiquity. The obelisk repeats the shape of the ancient sacred ben-ben in the form of a regular square pillar with a pyramidal top directed to the sky.

It is known that the tops of the obelisks were usually covered with gold or copper, which, of course, have not survived to this day. Almost all known obelisks were made of pink granite, which was mined in quarries located near the first threshold of the Nile, where today lies the modern city of Aswan. Here the Nile cuts through the rocky body of the Nubian Highlands and finally breaks out onto the plain, taking on its usual majestic dimensions. In the Aswan quarries, the Egyptians mined pink granite since the era of the Old Kingdom, and possibly even earlier. Pink granite was undoubtedly a special rock for the ancient Egyptians. The most important architectural and sculptural forms were created from it: temple portals, sarcophagi, statues of kings and, of course, obelisks.

Naturally, far from all have reached our time. And most of them today are outside of Egypt. After establishing their dominance here, the Romans began an active export of obelisks to Rome, not taking into account the physical and financial costs. And today 13 obelisks rise in the Eternal City. In the 19th century, the French and the British staged a real hunt for ancient Egyptian antiquities, not bypassing obelisks weighing several hundred tons. Therefore, today Egyptian obelisks of three thousand years ago can be seen in Paris, London and even New York. According to the surviving sources, the erection of obelisks reached its peak during the New Kingdom (XVI-XI centuries BC). Especially "distinguished" in the construction of granite monoliths, the most famous pharaohs of this time - Thutmose III and Ramesses II.

The latter is believed to have erected 23 obelisks during his reign. The average height of large obelisks was 20 meters, weight exceeded 200 tons. One of the obelisks made under Thutmose III is now in Rome and has a height of 32 m. About a third of the 27 obelisks that have survived to this day do not exceed 10 m in height. Almost all obelisks known today are covered over their entire surface with hieroglyphic inscriptions glorifying the king and his deeds. Obelisks were dedicated to the supreme solar deity and, as a rule, were installed in pairs. The technology for the production of sacred stone pillars included three stages: cutting a monolith from the parent rock and polishing it, transporting it to the place of construction and, finally, installation. All three technological stages are considered quite well known, since a number of written sources have come down to our time, describing the manufacture of obelisks and a set of images from burial structures and temples, which reflect the different stages of this process. It is believed that the cutting of the stone was carried out as follows: at the beginning, holes were cut out in the rock, placing them in a straight line, then wooden wedges were hammered into them and water was poured over them. The tree swelled and broke the rock. The resulting blocks were leveled with saws and, if necessary, polished.

Even the ancient Roman historian Pliny the Elder (1st century AD) mentions that the process of sawing stone was carried out using thin saws, under the blade of which fine sand was constantly poured, which served as an abrasive. Transportation of stone blocks was carried out using wooden skids, under which water or liquefied sludge was added to improve their sliding. Numerous images of such sledges are well known both in fine arts and in archaeological finds. So the stone was moved over short distances. Long-distance transportation was carried out along the Nile using special barges pulled by small rowboats. When transporting large monoliths, there could be several dozen such ships. The installation of the obelisk was carried out using an inclined embankment, which was a brick structure, divided into numerous compartments, packed with sand and rubble. The embankment had a very slight slope and, accordingly, a very significant length. The obelisk was dragged along it with the lower end forward and erected on a pedestal.

It would seem that this historical issue can be considered well studied and without any doubts. However, facts are stubborn things, especially those that lie, in the truest sense of the word, on the surface. A significant part of the ancient Aswan quarries has already been swallowed up by the territory of the modern city of Aswan. In these granite quarries is the only obelisk in Egypt, which remained unfinished, i.e. not completely separated from the parent rock. And it is he who raises a number of paradoxical questions that modern science cannot answer. First of all, it should be noted that this is the largest obelisk known in Egypt. Its length is 41.8 m! The Aswan obelisk has no inscriptions, so it cannot be dated. But because of its gigantic size, the obelisk dates back to the time of the Old Kingdom, i.e. to the era of the Great Pyramids. The obelisk is located on the surface and lies at a slight angle, following the direction of the layers of the granite massif.

Along the entire perimeter, the monolith is surrounded by a narrow trench less than 1 m wide, which follows the contour of the obelisk. Thus, it turns out that the obelisk was carved into the rock, and the work was carried out from above, and not from the sides. What tool was used here? It is clear that there is no need to talk about the use of saws here. The sides of the obelisk and the surrounding trench bear traces of a large, rounded tool. The width of the track is 27 cm. In the late 80s of the last century, the Italian researcher A. Preti suggested that the tracks were left by a rotating cutter, which the ancient Egyptians used to carve a monolith from the rock. How could the ancients have such an instrument? However, similar traces are found in abundance on the horizontal surfaces around the obelisk. And they look more like traces from a giant chisel. But is it possible to imagine a chisel with a working edge of 30 cm, cutting granite like plasticine? On the monolith itself, by the way, there are numerous traces of cuts and the traditional splitting technique using wedges.

But they were obviously left in later times and these attempts did not cause significant damage to the monolith. It was not possible to split or cut it. It is believed that the Aswan obelisk remained unfinished, since a mistake was made during the work and the monolith cracked. Indeed, the upper part of the obelisk is crossed by a longitudinal crack that violated its integrity. But the reasons for such a break do not necessarily lie in the miscalculations of the builders. It could be, for example, the result of an earthquake. One should not blame the ancient engineers who were able to perform such a volume of work for stupidity or negligence, especially since we do not understand the way to solve this technical problem. Moreover, the problem can be posed in a slightly different way: since the ancients cut out such a monolith, it means that they were going to transport and install it somewhere. And then a number of questions arise. First, how can a monolith located inside a rock and surrounded by a narrow perimeter trench be separated from this rock? After all, the obelisk lies on a rock, only its lower wall remained unseparated. How can saws be used in such a situation? Saw through forty meters of granite rock horizontally without violating the straight plane and avoiding the monolith breaking under its own weight? The literature gives different figures for the weight of the Aswan monolith, but on average they fluctuate around the figure of 1200 tons. This is the heaviest artificial monolith in the world! Although it is not very clear why such a figure appears.

It is clear that no one is able to weigh such a giant and its weight is calculated arithmetically. Although the obelisk remained intact from the rock, its planned dimensions are well known. The height should have been 41.8 m, the obelisk has a square section with sides of 4.2 m by 4.2 m. Its sides stretch parallel throughout, only in the upper part they narrow and form a peak. With an average density of granite of 2600 kg per m3. it is easy to calculate the weight of the monument. And if you do not take into account a slight correction for a narrowed top, the estimated weight of the Aswan obelisk should not be close to 1200 tons, but approximately 1900 tons! It is clear that there was nothing like the Aswan obelisk either in the ancient world or in the modern history of mankind. And the ancient engineers were going to move such a monolith somewhere and then install it.

The Guinness Book of Records is full of examples of single-handed people moving heavy vehicles, airplanes, and railroad cars. But in all these cases, we are talking about huge loads put on wheels and they must be moved on a flat horizontal surface. How can you solve the problem of transporting a solid monolith weighing almost 1900 tons over uneven mountainous terrain? And this is not the end of the mysteries associated with the Aswan obelisk. Ten meters from the obelisk, there are two vertical wells or shafts, punched vertically in the body of a granite rock. Their depth is about 3-4 m, the diameter is about 80 cm. The shape of the holes is something between a circle and a square. Antiquities inspectors working in Aswan explained that the Egyptians hollowed out these wells in order to find out the direction of cracks in the rock mass. Perhaps this explanation is correct, there are not two such wells on the territory of the quarries, but about ten. But the question remains, what tool was used in this? The fact is that the walls of the wells have a smooth, uniform surface without any traces of chips, there is a feeling that the rock was simply taken out using an installation similar to that used for drilling wells.

This is how the obelisk was hollowed out

Only here we are talking about granite. The art of processing this hard volcanic rock reached unprecedented heights in ancient Egypt. And it causes not only respect, but also amazement. Indeed, it is impossible to explain everything by the principle "perseverance and work will grind everything." This is not enough. The samples of ancient Egyptian granite architecture that have come down to us demonstrate not only the highest level of processing and construction technology, but also require that the ancients have sufficiently perfect knowledge in the field of natural sciences. Moreover, the closer we come to the origins of Egyptian civilization, the higher these figures. The construction technology that the monuments of the Giza plateau demonstrate has not been surpassed or improved since. On the contrary, there is a process of degradation of many aspects of the early Egyptian civilization, which we observe in the III millennium BC. during the period of the Old Kingdom.

The very phenomenon of the emergence of such a cultural complex with an ordered system of hieroglyphic writing, a developed calendar, with a developed technology of monumental construction, causes genuine astonishment. And in this aspect, the ideas of those researchers who consider Ancient Egypt the heir of an even more ancient and more developed civilization, of which very few traces have come down to us, are completely appropriate and legitimate. But there are such traces, they just need not to be ignored, to be able to study and correctly interpret.

This is how it should have become in the future:

Well, or here, for example, such as the famous Luxor obelisk, now standing in France.

For comparison, the height of the obelisk reaches 23 meters, the weight is equal to 220 tons, age - 3600 years. All four sides of the monument depict hieroglyphs and drawings that were carved to the glory of Ramesses II. The most important moments of his transportation from Egypt to Paris were also captured on the Luxor obelisk. On both sides around the monument in the middle of the 19th century, graceful fountains were created by the architect Gittorf, which function to this day. In 1999, the peak of the obelisk was dressed in a gold tip, for the casting of which one and a half kilograms of gold of the highest standard were spent.

In the southern part of Aswan, there was once an area where ancient granite quarries were located. It was considered the most valuable stone used for construction in Egypt. Now this area is of interest to tourists with the monument available here, which is still attached to one of the rocks - an unfinished obelisk.

In general, the Northern Quarry itself is a great place to visit for those who are interested in studying ancient technologies. He was famous for his production of granite, which was used in the construction of the burial chamber of the Great Pyramid of Cheops, as well as as facing stone in other pyramids. Each rock in it shows the imprint of ancient stone cutters.

The area of ​​the northern quarry was excavated quite recently. Previously unknown objects made of granite were found here, including fragments of columns and statues. To the south of the obelisk, archaeologists have discovered an inscription dated to the 25th year of the reign of Tuthmose III. Also, niches of seven more large obelisks were excavated near it, which today are in temples in Karnak and Luxor.

The entrance ticket to the open-air museum, as the Northern Quarry is also called, will cost 30 EGP.

The northern quarry is located next to the Fatimid cemetery, in the southern part of Aswan. It is easily accessible by taxi or walking uphill from the Nubian Museum.

More and more hidden corners and previously unexplored places are opening up in Aswan quarries. Here is the bed of the obelisk (s) of Thutmose III can be seen with your own eyes. And why exactly Thutmose III? Because it was his workers who wrote right on the wall of the quarry about the extraction of two obelisks for his majesty

In the 23rd year of his majesty, the mighty Horus “refers to the king” of Kemet” Egypt name” “who is blessed by Nakhebet and Wajet” the vulture goddess of Upper Egypt and the cobra snake of lower Egypt” Eternity to him who is like Ra “ the Sun” in the sky. The living god, master of offerings “and “ structures of the beloved gods , king of Upper and Lower Egypt- (Men –Kheper-Ra), child of Ra of his body, his beloved ( Thut-moses III) master of offerings, he who is given the life as the Sun forever, made with love two great obelisks in the abode of Amun, in the Karnak.”

Aswan- a city in southern Egypt, located on the right bank of the Nile River, about 865 km from Cairo. One of the driest settlements on the planet. Population - 275,000 people (2008).

Aswan has been a trade center on the caravan route for many centuries. Through the city, which occupies the right bank of the river, in ancient times there were trade flows from Nubia and back. Today, ivory and precious wood are not traded on the streets of Aswan, but the third city of Egypt is filled with aromas and spices that arrived from the south. Local markets are reminiscent of Sudanese bazaars with their color and smells.

Numerous tourist boats run between Aswan and Luxor. On the way, they usually make stops at Kom Ombo and Edfe, where they can see the beautifully preserved ancient temples.

Most of the tourists come to Aswan during the winter months. At this time, the city is filled with crowds of tourists.

Aswan has a charming Botanical Garden, the Aga Khan's cottage and mausoleum, the ruins of the monastery of St. Simeon, and the Nubian Museum, which is somewhat on the outskirts. The museum covers an area of ​​50,000 m², and includes not only exhibition halls, but also a library, learning centers, and a green park around.

sources
http://www.95live.ru/
http://tourweek.ru/
http://www.yestravel.ru/
http://www.egypt-best.ru/

 And I'll remind you more about, and also remember The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

Both obelisks and steles in different historical eras were made from different materials: marble, granite or some other stone, even. Both obelisks and steles were inscribed. These commemorative signs differ in their shape.

An obelisk is, most often, in the form of a pillar, tapering upwards. Most often, such a column has a square section, but there are also obelisks in the form of a cone. The stella looks like a slab, not a pillar.

obelisks

The word "obelisk" is Greek, but the very first obelisks appeared not in Greece, but in Ancient Egypt. They were made from red granite. It wasn't easy! So, the inscription over one of the Egyptian obelisks located in Karnak says that it took seven whole months to make it!

Egyptian obelisks are tetrahedral tapering pillars. On all four faces, hieroglyphic inscriptions were carved, in which the Egyptians praised their gods, first of all, the sun god Ra, and also, also ranked among the gods. Many obelisks are decorated with pyramidal tops covered with an alloy of silver and gold.

The tradition of building obelisks from the Egyptians was borrowed by many peoples of the Ancient World. Obelisks began to be erected in Phenicia, Assyria, Ethiopia.

After conquering Egypt, the Romans brought many Egyptian obelisks to Rome. After that, their own obelisks began to be erected in Rome, but they also had practical significance: they were used as sundial columns.

In Europe, the tradition of erecting obelisks was forgotten in the Middle Ages, but was resurrected in the Renaissance and has not been interrupted to this day. In Russia, obelisks began to be erected under Catherine II.

The tallest obelisk in the world is located in Washington (USA) between the Capitol and the White House. This is the Washington Monument, its height exceeds 169 meters.

Stella

Like obelisks, steles appeared in ancient times. One of the most ancient steles is the one on which the set of laws of the Babylonian king Hammurabi, who ruled in 1793-1750, is inscribed in cuneiform. BC. This stele is made of diorite, a rock of igneous origin.

Another famous ancient stela is known as the Rosetta Stone. This stele was found in Egypt, and it is remarkable in that the text on it is inscribed in three versions: in ancient Egyptian - in hieroglyphs and in later demotic writing and in ancient Greek. Scholars have known ancient Greek for a long time, and thanks to the Rosetta Stone, ancient Egyptian texts began.

But steles were especially loved in China, where they were erected both at the behest of emperors and at the initiative of temples. In this country, in the city of Xi'an, there is even a museum called the Forest of Steles, where you can see the steles created in different periods of Chinese history.

The obelisks of Rome are its unique characteristic. Like in no other city in the world, there are 13 ancient monolithic obelisks made of granite. Seven of them are ancient Egyptian obelisks, they were brought to Rome in different years of the Imperial period. The first obelisk was delivered by order of Augustus in 10 BC, and the last one was ordered to be brought to Rome by Emperor Constantius II in 357 AD. The rest of the obelisks are copies made in Egypt by the Romans.

After the conquest of Egypt in 31 BC. in Rome, it became possible to decorate the city with obelisks. Their use was varied, some, low, were installed along the main street on the Field of Mars (Campo Marzio), among them those that are now in Florence and Urbino. High obelisks adorned the centers of ancient circuses: the Great Circus (Circo Massimo), the Circus Maxentius (Circo di Massenzio), the Vatican Circus (Vaticano) and the Varian (Variano). Two obelisks decorated the entrance to the Mausoleum of Augustus, and one served as a gnomon for a huge sundial.

Egyptian obelisks were transported on ships and unloaded at the port of Ostia, where some of them were broken into sections and described in a catalog for subsequent installation. Obelisks filled the inhabitants of ancient Rome with a sense of pride. After numerous barbarian invasions, many of the obelisks were destroyed, and some simply disappeared and became covered with the ashes of oblivion. In addition to the architectural decoration of the city, the obelisks performed specific functions of the geometric layout of the squares and were located in their absolute center. In terms of symbolism, the obelisks of Rome expressed the idea of ​​the rise of Christianity and its desire to get closer to God.

Reference. Obelisks are monolithic granite blocks with four sides that taper towards the top. At the very top they are crowned with a pyramidal gilded arrow (point, later - a cross or a ball). The name comes from the Greek Obelìscos (spire, spear, pike). The ancient Egyptian name for obelisks is TEKHENU.

Obelisks were carved in the quarries of Aswan in Egypt and floated down the Nile on special barges. Some of the obelisks are colossal in size, the largest of the surviving now in the city of Rome has a height of 32 meters. The Egyptians erected obelisks to glorify the sun god Ra. The obelisks symbolized the sun's rays that descended to the earth to illuminate it and warm everyone. In addition, obelisks were installed in front of temples and tombs, and the inscriptions on them glorified the pharaohs. The first obelisks were erected in the Egyptian city of Iunu, which translates as “the city of pillars”, or obelisks. The Greeks called this city Iliopolis or Heliopolis, which means "city of the sun." It was from here, on specially built ships, that the Romans brought one of the most ancient obelisks.