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Harroun & Bierstadt, NY/Egyptian Obelisks

“The standing obelisk of Alexandria was generally the first and the last of Egypt’s numerous monuments to be visited by travellers. The accompanying illustration recalls the feeling of disgust aroused by some of its surroundings. Something more than curiosity was needed to induce one to approach near enough and remain long enough to examine and appreciate it. Situated in the outskirts of the city, near the Ramleh railway depot, it was a familiar object to the foreign element, many of whom live at Ramleh and passed it twice, often four times a day; and yet no one deemed it worthy of protection and care, even to the extent of preventing its defacement and the accumulation of offal around it … It would be impossible for any thing to have been more neglected and less appreciated than was the Alexandrian obelisk by the residents of Alexandria and tourists who passed through the city en route to the Nile.”