Obelisk
WHS where obelisks can be seen in the core zone. An obelisk is a tall, narrow, four-sided, tapering monument that ends in a pyramidal top.
Connected Sites
| Site | Rationale | Link |
| Alcala de Henares | One at Plaza de las Bernardas & one at Plaza Palacio, in front of the Archiepiscopal Palace | |
| Ancient Thebes | "The Luxor Obelisks are a pair of Ancient Egyptian obelisks, over 3,000 years old, carved to stand either side of the portal of the Luxor Temple in the reign of Ramesses II (c. 1250 BC). The right-hand (western) stone, 23 metres (75 ft) high, was moved in the 1830s to the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France, while the left-hand (eastern) obelisk remains in its location in Egypt." (wiki) | |
| Aranjuez | In the Island Garden: " Following the fashion of that time, and evoking Egypt Idols, the composition also includes an Obelisk coming from the personal collection of King Phillip V." | |
| Arles | The Obélisque d'Arles ("Arles Obelisk") is a 4th-century Roman obelisk, erected in the center of the Place de la République, in front of the town hall of Arles, France. (wiki) | |
| Bahá’i Holy Places | Bahá’í Temples: Carmel West: Place of Revelation This is a small open space, where in 1891 Bahá’u’lláh composed the “Tablet of Carmel”, the charter of the Bahá’í world administrative centre. It is marked by an obelisk marking the site of a future temple. | |
| Belfries | "The Hôtel de Ville in Antwerpen (1564) is an excellent example of the transposition of Renaissance principles in the central risalith with superposed diminishing registers flanked by obelisks and scrollwork and finished with a pediment, reiterating the theme of the central belfry." (1999 AB Ev) | |
| Blaenavon Industrial Landscape | Obelisk to honour Sidney Gilchrist Thomas | |
| Blenheim Palace | Small one in a pond | |
| Brugge | At the Vismarkt | |
| Byblos | Temple of the Obelisks: " The temple's name, given by Dunand, refers to a number of obelisks and standing stones located in a court around the cella. The Abishemu obelisk has been interpreted to include a dedication to Resheph, a Canaanite war god, although this is disputed. Another obelisk has a hieroglyphic inscription Middle Bronze Age king of Byblos Ibishemu, praising the Egyptian god Herysha." (wiki) | |
| Canal du Midi | Riquet Obelisk (1827) | |
| City of Bath | At Queen Square: "erected by Beau Nash in 1738 in honour of Frederick, Prince of Wales" | |
| Derwent Valley Mills | Belper Obelisk War Memorial | |
| Dolomites | Drei Zinnen War Memorial | |
| Edinburgh | Political Martyrs' Monument: erected in 1844, "it commemorates five political reformists from the late 18th and early 19th centuries" | |
| Florence | 2 in front of Santa Maria Novella: "two obelisks, which were made of Serravezza marble, quarried in 1570 and sculpted by Bartolomeo Ammannati to mark the occasion of the marriage of Cosimo II to Margherita of Austria." | |
| Fontainebleau | Marie-Antoinette obelisk (18th century) | |
| Fortifications of Vauban | Longwy: Le monument aux Défenseurs de la Place de Longwy | |
| Funerary and memory sites of the First World War | Buttes New British Cemetery - it is the Fifth Australian Division memorial | |
| Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz | Wörlitz: War Memorial, to the fallen in the 1870/1 Franco-Prussian War, WWI and WWII. And another one in Dessau, at the old cemetery. | |
| Great Spa Towns of Europe | Chotek's Footpath is the "oldest forest promenade" in Karlovy Vary. "In 1804 the obelisk of count Findlater was erected beside the path and in 1834 Theresa's obelisk, commemorating the visit of the Duchess Marie Therese Charlotte d'Angouléme in 1833." In Mariánské Lázně, a sandstone obelisk erected in 1849 "commemorates the fact that J. W. Goethe used to sit with Ulrike von Levetzow on the benches here". (Nomination File, p. 144, 165) | |
| Heritage of Mercury | In the town center of Idrija, to remember 17 miners who died in a fire | |
| Ironbridge Gorge | Coalbrookdale War Memorial, an obelisk but with a cross added to the top | |
| Istanbul | The Obelisk of Theodosius (Turkish: Dikilitaş) is the Ancient Egyptian obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III re-erected in the Hippodrome of Constantinople (wiki) | |
| Kraków | Floryjan Straszewski monument | |
| Lake District | Wilkinson Monument (Iron monument dedicated to the builder of the Ironbridge at Ironbridge Gorge) | |
| Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape | Lednice obelisk: "The Lednice obelisk was erected by 1798 on behalf of Prince Alois I of Liechtenstein in the Eisgrub castle complex that belonged to him. The reason is said to have been the end of the First Coalition War in 1797. The chosen form of the monument was also due to the Egyptomania fashion of the time" (wiki de) | |
| Loire Valley | René Gasnier monument (to an early aviator) | |
| Longobards in Italy | Benevento: "In 88/89 AD (year eight of the reign of emperor Domitian) two obelisks carvedfrom red Aswan granite were set up, flanking the entrance of a newly constructedtemple to the Egyptian goddess Isis, in Benevento (ancient Beneventum), Italy.One complete obelisk (Obelisk A) currently stands in the Piazza Papiniano inBenevento while its fragmentary twin (Obelisk B) is in the collection ofBenevento’s Museo del Sannio (inv. 1916)" | |
| Lord Howe Island | McCulloch Obelisk | |
| Maritime Greenwich | Bellot Memorial and The New Zealand Memorial | |
| Medici Villas and Gardens | "The Boboli obelisk, previously called the Obelisco Mediceo, is an ancient Egyptian granite obelisk, which was moved in the 18th century from Rome to Florence, where it was erected in the Boboli Gardens.... The granite from which the obelisk is carved comes from Aswan and the inscriptions are dedicated to Atum, the deity of the city of Heliopolis. It is suspected to have been first erected in that city during the reign of Ramesses II. In the first century AD, it was moved to Rome" | |
| Monticello | Jefferson's grave has an obelisk-shaped gravestone. | |
| Mérida | Glorieta de las Méridas del mundo | |
| Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin | Monument aux morts de la compagnie des mines de Lens, situé à l'intersection de la route de Béthune et de l'avenue de la fosse 12" in Lens | |
| Nubian Monuments | The unfinished obelisk in the stone quarries of ancient Egypt in Aswan (location 008). | |
| Old City of Berne | At the Kornhausbrücke | |
| Old Havana | At Cabana fortress: "The ten Spaniards who perished were interred in La Cabaña fortress in Havana under an obelisk bearing their names." | |
| Paris, Banks of the Seine | Luxor Obelisk | |
| Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro | Obelisco Dos de mayo (1840) - a war memorial | |
| Petra | "Between the Petra Visitor Centre and the entrance to the Siq (south side of the path), there is a fine tomb with four pyramidal obelisks, built as funerary symbols by the Nabataeans in the 1st century BC. The four obelisks, together with the eroded human figure in the centre, probably represent the five people buried in the tomb." | |
| Potsdam | Obelisk in Sanssouci Park: "The stone pillar was created in 1748 based on designs by Knobelsdorff and was executed by the stonemason Johann Christian Angermann . The decorative hieroglyphs are either by Johann Michael Hoppenhaupt or his younger brother Johann Christian. The Egyptian characters contain no text, but are the artist's free imagination, as the translation of hieroglyphs was not yet possible in the 18th century." (wiki de) | |
| Prague | The obelisk at Prague Castle is a granite monolith and World War I memorial designed by Jože Plečnik, installed at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic. It stands 16 meters high. (wiki) | |
| Québec | Wolfe-Montcalm Monument | |
| Regensburg | Obelisk for Karl Anselm von Thurn und Taxis, 1806 | |
| Rome | "There are eight ancient Egyptian and five ancient Roman obelisks in Rome" (wiki) | |
| Saltaire | Saltaire Congregational Church War Memorial Obelisk | |
| Schönbrunn | Obelisk dates back to 1777. Likely a tribute to Habsburg power and authority. The obelisk’s hieroglyphics have no actual meaning (they’re just meant to look impressive). | |
| St. Petersburg | Rumyantsev Obelisk: "The obelisk commemorates the victories of Count Pyotr Rumyantsev during the Russo-Turkish War between 1768 and 1774, and his service in the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792." | |
| Stonehenge | Missing stones at Avebury are marked with small obelisks | |
| Struve Geodetic Arc | STARO-NEKRASSOWKA Stara Nekrasivka component (and the one at Beresnäki is similar, but not narrow tapering from its base) | |
| Studley Royal Park | Studley Obelisk : "The obelisk at the south western end of Studley Park was erected in 1815 as an 'eyecatcher' at one end of the formal avenue." | |
| Trinity Sergius Lavra | An obelisk with medallions narrating the history of the monastery was built on the main square (1792). | |
| Urbino | "The Obelisk of Urbino, erected by Cardinal Annibale Albani, is one of the twelve original Egyptian obelisks in Italy and considered as twin of the one in Piazza Minerva in Rome. It comes from a temple of Isis in Egypt and glorifies the Pharaoh Hophra (595 B.C.). Initially placed in the Campus Martius in Rome, it was moved to Urbino in 1737 to celebrate Pope Clement XI. " | |
| Val di Noto | The Elephant Fountain on the Piazza del Duomo in Catania is a fountain with a "black basalt statue of an elephant". "On the animal's back is an Egyptian-style obelisk, 3.66 meters high, made of granite, hypothetically from Syene; it has no hieroglyphics, but is decorated with Egyptian-style figures that do not constitute meaningful hieroglyphic writing." | |
| Vatican City | In the middle of St Peter Square: "It is traditionally known as Caligula’s Obelisk as it was Caligula who in 37 A.D took the monument from Alexandria to have it placed in the Circus Caligula ... The Vatican Obelisk was moved to its current location between 1585 and 1586 under Pope Sixtus V " | |
| Vigan | Obelisk to commemorate conquistador Juan de Salcedo is in front of St Paul’s Cathedral | |
| Villa d'Este | At the Rometta Fountain: in a small pool floats a boat with a mast in the shape of an obelisk, illustrating the Tiber island (AB ev) | |
| Westminster | Several graves feature a small obelisk with an extra ornament added to the top. Examples are that of Anna Beaumont and the Villiers Family. |
Suggestions?
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