TRUE OBELISKS ARE MADE OF A SINGLE STONE PIECE. For example, the obelisk in the heart of Place de la Concorde is monolithic. It is 3300 years old and previously stood at the gateway of Egypt's Temple of Thebes.
OBELISKS ARE ALSO CALLED COLOSSAL STATUES because they represent a huge scale model of their god or emperor. They are therefore also gigantic stones.
The original obelisks were carved from a single block of hard rock. Over time, however, they weathered down to just the straight, smooth shaft that remains today. Because of this, some later obelisks are made up of several pieces of stone set into one another like a jigsaw puzzle. Others have been completely cast in bronze or iron. Still others are made of wood and then covered in metal.
In modern times, only four true obelisks remain in existence. Three of them are in China while the fourth stands in Cusco, Peru.
They are large-scale models of the universe on earth, used as astrological instruments for measuring distances and calculating times. These amazing artifacts were created between 30 BC and AD 570. During that time, more than 20 different masters sculpted dozens of these objects.
An obelisk is a four-sided, tall, thin structure that tapers toward the top and finishes in a pyramid. It is the highest building in Washington, D.C., the tallest stone structure in the globe, and the tallest obelisk in the world. It is made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss. The exact height of the Washington Monument is 360 feet (110 m), but it has been estimated that when it was complete, the apex of the tip of its capstone would have reached 390 feet (119 m) above sea level.
The monument was built from 1848 to 1884. Its architect, Robert Mills, also designed the Lincoln Memorial, which is located across the National Mall from the Washington Monument. The site for the monument was chosen by President Thomas Jefferson who wanted a statue of the emperor Marcus Aurelius to stand in what is now Washington, D.C. However, after the death of Emperor Nero, this plan was abandoned. In 1824, Congress authorized the construction of a memorial to honor George Washington. The money for this project came from federal taxes on whiskey. About one-third of the cost was paid for by private donations, including $25,000 from John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States.
In 1827, Congress approved the placement of a statue of Washington on top of the monument.
There are obelisk-shaped masonry constructions, such as the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., but they are not the same as ancient Egyptian monolithic monuments. Experts believe that obelisks were frequently linked with the ancient Egyptian sun deity, Ra.
The word "obelisk" comes from the Greek oberon, which means "all-powerful." The first known example of this type of monument was built around 270 BC by Pytheos of Egypt for the emperor Alexander the Great. It is now on display in Alexandria's Museum of Alexandria.
Pytheos also constructed several other similar monuments throughout Egypt, all of which have been destroyed. However, based on contemporary descriptions, these may have been polygonal at the base and needle-like toward the top rather than cylindrical like the Alexandrian one. In fact, some scholars have suggested that the ancient Egyptians might have used the term "obelisk" to describe any tall thin stone structure.
In 1538, Antonio de Mendoza, the 1st viceroy of Mexico, brought an ancient Egyptian obelisk to Spain. This obelisk is still located in a garden in Madrid but is mostly hidden by trees. In 1881, this obelisk was replaced by a copy made by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi who had designed the Statue of Liberty.
Copyright © 2020 - 2023 BindleyHardware & Co Inc.
