Cleopatra’s Needle: An Ancient Egyptian Obelisk in London
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Bronze Age
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Bronze Age, Classical, Modern
- Civilizations
- British, Egyptian, Roman
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- Monument
On this page8 sections
History
Cleopatra’s Needle is an ancient Egyptian obelisk in the United Kingdom, standing in London. It was erected around 1450 BC during the reign of Thutmose III, a pharaoh of Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty during the New Kingdom. The monument formed one of a pair raised at Heliopolis, an important religious centre associated with the sun god, and remained there for approximately 1,400 years.
From Heliopolis to Alexandria
Around 12 BC, during the reign of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, the pair was dismantled and moved about 200 kilometres to Alexandria. There they were re-erected before the Caesareum, a monumental temple complex associated with the Roman imperial cult and traditionally linked with Cleopatra and Mark Antony or Julius Caesar. The obelisks served as monumental ornaments and as a gateway toward the Mediterranean.
One of the two later fell, probably in a major earthquake around 1301. Its position on the ground buried much of the inscribed surface beneath sand, protecting the hieroglyphs from weathering. The fallen monument was first described in writing by the traveller George Sandys in 1610.
A diplomatic gift and a British project
In the early nineteenth century, Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Ottoman-appointed ruler of Egypt, presented the fallen obelisk to the British royal house. The gift marked British military assistance against the French in Egypt and was connected with the coronation of George IV. Although the offer was accepted, the British government declined to pay for removing the stone.
Muhammad Ali renewed the gift in 1831, in connection with the coronation of William IV, and offered to load the monument onto a British ship at his own expense. Possible sites in London included a position opposite George IV’s residence, Trafalgar Square, and the area eventually occupied by Victoria Embankment.
British interest in the obelisk also reflected a desire to commemorate victories over France in the Battle of the Nile in 1798 and the campaign that ended with the Battle of Alexandria in 1801. The proposed memorial would honour Horatio Nelson, General Ralph Abercromby, and British troops who died in those conflicts. British troops remaining in Egypt under the Earl of Cavan rediscovered the obelisks after the French withdrawal.
Several transport schemes preceded the successful expedition. Captain William Henry Smith proposed one in 1822, while James Alexander later developed another with the engineer Dusan. In 1867, the Greek merchant Giovanni Demetrio acquired the plot where the obelisk stood and threatened to dismantle or dispose of it while pursuing redevelopment plans. This renewed pressure to remove the monument.
Transport from Alexandria
James Alexander travelled to Egypt in 1875 and confirmed with Khedive Ismail Pasha, the title used by Egypt’s hereditary ruler under Ottoman sovereignty, that Muhammad Ali’s offer to pay the loading costs still stood. The engineer Waynman Dixon then proposed enclosing the obelisk in a cylindrical transport vessel. Sir William James Erasmus Wilson, a British anatomist, dermatologist, and patron, agreed to provide private finance. A contract was signed on 30 January 1877, and Wilson offered £10,000 on the condition that the project be completed within two years.
The vessel, named Cleopatra, was designed by John and Waynman Dixon and built at Thames Iron Works in 1877. It was assembled around the obelisk at Alexandria, commanded by Captain Henry Carter, and towed by Olga under Captain William Booth. Before launching, hydraulic presses, machines using pressurised fluid to lift heavy loads, raised the stone so it could be aligned parallel with the sea and secured inside the vessel. Workers levelled and cleared the route to the water, positioned the obelisk slightly below the cylinder’s centreline to reduce rolling, and used rails and counterweights to roll the vessel into the sea.
The launch initially failed. An insecure winch anchorage and a projecting fragment of wall damaged the cylinder, while open flood chambers allowed water to enter. John Dixon directed the use of a weighted platform and hydraulic presses to raise the vessel, expose and repair the leak, remove the obstruction, and complete the launch.
Cleopatra left Alexandria under tow from Olga on 21 September 1877. On 14 October, a storm in the Bay of Biscay rolled Cleopatra onto its side, forcing the towropes to be cut. Six sailors from Olga, William Askin, James Gardiner, Joseph Benbow, Michael Burns, William Donald, and William Patan, died while trying to rescue Cleopatra’s crew.
The disabled vessel was found and salvaged by the steamer Fitzmaurice and taken to Ferrol in Spain. Its master, Captain Evans, claimed £5,000 for the salvage, but the claim was settled for £2,000. Towing resumed on 19 December with Anglia, operated by William Watkins Ltd under Captain David Glue. The convoy reached London on 21 January 1878.
Erection in London
A wooden replica helped assess possible London locations. The chosen site was the Thames Embankment, now Victoria Embankment, which had formerly served as a harbour for public ferry services. Its existing surface did not require additional ground reinforcement. Cleopatra was dismantled after the transport operation, and a foundation and pedestal were prepared.
The obelisk was raised from the dismantled vessel using hydraulic presses and a timber framework. It was moved vertically along rails while remaining horizontal, turned upright on 11 September 1878, and set down on 12 September before several thousand spectators. It was initially left without extra fastenings because calculations indicated that its weight and centre of gravity would keep it stable even during severe storms.
In September 1917, bomb fragments from a German air raid damaged the monument. Scars on the pedestal and sphinxes were left unrepaired and remain visible. The pedestal and sphinxes also suffered further damage during the Second World War. Restoration work was undertaken in 2005.
Remains
The granite obelisk
Cleopatra’s Needle is a monolithic obelisk, meaning that it was carved from a single piece of stone. The pink or red Aswan granite was quarried near the first cataract of the Nile. The monument is approximately 20.9 to 21 metres high and weighs about 186 tonnes. Its square base measures approximately 2.30 metres on each side. The shaft tapers from about 2.30 metres wide at the bottom to about 1.40 metres near the top, where it ends in a pyramidion, the small pyramid-shaped finial of an obelisk. The pyramidion was originally covered with electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, and the lower edges of the shaft are rounded.
Each face carries three vertical columns of sunk-carved hieroglyphs. The central column on each side was made for Thutmose III, while the two outer columns were added approximately 200 years later by Ramesses II, a pharaoh of Egypt’s Nineteenth Dynasty associated with extensive building and military commemorations. Bronze, Egyptian-style ornament surrounds the base, concealing its notches and rounded corners. Bronze plaques on the sides describe the monument, its transport, and its erection, and commemorate people connected with the undertaking, including the six sailors who died during the rescue attempt of 1877.
Pedestal and sphinxes
A time capsule was placed in the front of the pedestal in 1878. It contained contemporary photographs, coins and weights, tobacco and a razor, a baby’s bottle and children’s toys, a bronze model of the monument, a portrait of Queen Victoria, transport plans, a translation of the inscriptions, multilingual Bibles, a copy of John 3:16 in 215 languages, newspapers, a map of London, and other contemporary objects. A metal ruler was also reportedly included.
Two bronze sphinxes flank the obelisk on Victoria Embankment in Westminster, near the Golden Jubilee Bridges and Embankment station, between Waterloo Bridge and Charing Cross. They face toward the obelisk. The English architect George John Vulliamy designed them, Charles Henry Mabey modelled them, and the Eccleston Iron Works in Pimlico cast them in 1881. Their hieroglyphic inscriptions refer to the “good god” Thutmose III and his being given life. The sphinxes appear to look toward the obelisk rather than guard it, reportedly because they were installed in the wrong orientation.
Bomb fragments left shrapnel holes and gouges in the western sphinx, the pedestal, and the sphinx bases. These marks remain visible on the monument and its surrounding bronze work.
