Obelisk: Quick Facts

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Photos

Paris: Luxor Obelisk

Luxor, Egypt: obelisk

Karnak: temple complex

St. Peter's Basilica

Cleopatra's Needle

Tall stone obelisk with carved details stands among several smaller stelae at the Aksum Kingdom site in Ethiopia, with trees and blue sky in the background.

Marble facade of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, by Leon Battista Alberti, 1456–70. In the foreground is one of two marble obelisks by the Flemish sculptor best known as Giambologna (Jean de Boulogne).

obelisks of Hatshepsut and Thutmose

Temple of Luxor

Washington Monument, Washington, D.C.

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Topics

Cleopatra’s Needle ancient Egyptian religion pillar pier

Key People

Lorenzo Bernini: Apollo and Daphne

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Italian artist

Layard, drawing by G.F. Watts; in the National Portrait Gallery, London

Sir Austen Henry Layard

British archaeologist