Luxor+obelisk

The Luxor Obelisk

The Luxor Obelisk is a 75 foot tall obelisk, similar to the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. The Luxor Obelisk is located in the middle of the Place de la Concorde in Paris. But this is not where it was originally built. It was originally placed in front of the temple of Luxor along with an identical Obelisk that still stands there today. The 280 metric ton yellow granite column is covered with hieroglyphics that show the story of king Ramses and his rule. After thousands of years in its home country of Egypt Muhammed Ali, Khedive of Egypt sent it to France as a gift to the ruler at the time King Luis Phillipe on December 21 1833.

Getting the obelisk to where it is now was no easy feat at the time. It still wouldn’t be easy today with modern technology. To transport the thousands of years old piece of art it had to be carried on a barge called the Louqsor, the best methods and machinery of the day. Then, a ship named the Sphinx towed the barge up the Nile, across the Mediterranean Sea, and into the River Seine to where its final location is - in the Place de la Concorde in downtown Paris where it was raised with a system of pulleys onto the pedestal where it still stands today.