Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Luxor Obelisks
The Luxor Obelisks (French: Obélisques de Louxor) are a pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks, over 3,000 years old, carved to stand at 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 gifted by Egypt to France in the 1830s and moved to the Place de la Concorde in Paris, while the left-hand (eastern) obelisk remains in its location in Egypt.
The Luxor Obelisk in Paris was classified officially as a monument historique in 1936.
The Luxor Temple predated Ramesses II by about 150 years. During his reign, renovations were made that included the addition of the two obelisks.
The obelisks were each carved from a single piece of red granite, quarried about 100 miles (160 km) south of Luxor in Aswan, transported on a specially designed barge, and lowered into place with ropes and sand.
The two obelisks were slightly different heights, and the one remaining in Luxor is taller. The shorter obelisk was mounted on a taller pedestal and placed farther from the pylon than the other. To an advancing spectator the obelisks may have appeared to be the same height, and this design choice may have been highly deliberate.
The obelisk remaining in Luxor leans. The Paris obelisk has a fissure in the original stone that had been tended to in antiquity.
The eastern and western faces of each obelisk were slightly convex, the only two ancient obelisks with the feature, and the reason for this is not understood.
Both obelisks feature hieroglyphic text carved in sunken relief on all four sides. In the 19th century, François Chabas produced a full translation of the western (Paris) obelisk, which is about Ramesses II, Amun-Ra, and Horus, and can be read here.
Hub AI
Luxor Obelisks AI simulator
(@Luxor Obelisks_simulator)
Luxor Obelisks
The Luxor Obelisks (French: Obélisques de Louxor) are a pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks, over 3,000 years old, carved to stand at 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 gifted by Egypt to France in the 1830s and moved to the Place de la Concorde in Paris, while the left-hand (eastern) obelisk remains in its location in Egypt.
The Luxor Obelisk in Paris was classified officially as a monument historique in 1936.
The Luxor Temple predated Ramesses II by about 150 years. During his reign, renovations were made that included the addition of the two obelisks.
The obelisks were each carved from a single piece of red granite, quarried about 100 miles (160 km) south of Luxor in Aswan, transported on a specially designed barge, and lowered into place with ropes and sand.
The two obelisks were slightly different heights, and the one remaining in Luxor is taller. The shorter obelisk was mounted on a taller pedestal and placed farther from the pylon than the other. To an advancing spectator the obelisks may have appeared to be the same height, and this design choice may have been highly deliberate.
The obelisk remaining in Luxor leans. The Paris obelisk has a fissure in the original stone that had been tended to in antiquity.
The eastern and western faces of each obelisk were slightly convex, the only two ancient obelisks with the feature, and the reason for this is not understood.
Both obelisks feature hieroglyphic text carved in sunken relief on all four sides. In the 19th century, François Chabas produced a full translation of the western (Paris) obelisk, which is about Ramesses II, Amun-Ra, and Horus, and can be read here.