Where Is It?

PATTI MCCONVILLE / ALAMY

1. Washington, DC
2. Alexandria, Egypt
3. Karnak, Egypt
4. New York City
5. Rome, Italy

Answer: (4) New York City

This ancient Egyptian obelisk currently stands in New York City’s Central Park, between the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Great Lawn.

The pink granite monument comes from the quarries of Aswan in Upper Egypt, where it was cut under the warrior-king Thutmose III around 1445 BCE. Together with its identical twin, it was brought down the Nile to decorate the entrance to the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis. In about 10 BCE, the first Roman emperor, Augustus, had both obelisks moved to Alexandria and erected in front of the Caesareum—a temple in honor of his adoptive father, Julius Caesar. During an earthquake in 1301, one of them toppled but didn’t break and was eventually taken to London in the 19th century.

The Ottoman viceroy of Egypt Ismail Pasha donated the standing obelisk to the United States at the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, though the obelisk didn’t reach New York until July 20, 1880. This followed the inauguration of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on March 30, and it was hoped that such an impressive monument would drive public interest in the museum. To enormous public excitement, the presentation ceremony was finally held on February 22, 1881.

The obelisk remains the oldest outdoor monument in New York City. Weighing about 200 tons, its shaft measures almost 70 feet from base to tip, and almost 8 feet across at the square base. All four sides are covered with engraved hieroglyphic inscriptions celebrating the achievements of Thutmose III and Ramesses II.