Cleopatra's Needle, London
51°30′31″N 0°07′13″W / 51.508517°N 0.120336°W | |
Location | London |
---|---|
Type | Obelisk |
Completion date | 1450 BC |
Cleopatra's Needle in
It was presented to the United Kingdom in 1819 by the ruler of Egypt and Sudan
History
The obelisk was originally erected in the Egyptian city of
Transport from Alexandria
The obelisk remained in Alexandria until 1877 when Sir William James Erasmus Wilson, a distinguished anatomist and dermatologist, sponsored its transportation to London from Alexandria at a cost of some £10,000 (equivalent to over £1,000,000 in 2020[2]). Following consultation with Mathew William Simpson, a railway and locomotive engineer working for the Khedive of Egypt and a friend of Wilson who shared his passion for Egyptian antiquities, it was dug out of the sand in which it had been buried for nearly 2,000 years and was encased in a great iron cylinder, 92 feet (28 metres) long and 16 feet (4.9 metres) in diameter. This was designed by the engineer John Dixon (from original plans drawn up for Wilson by Mathew William Simpson, who was unable to undertake the work due to being under contract to the Khedive), and dubbed Cleopatra, to be commanded by Captain Carter. It was built at the Thames Iron Works, shipped to Alexandria in separate pieces, and built around the obelisk by Waynman Dixon, John's brother.[3] It had a vertical stem and stern, a rudder, two bilge keels, a mast for balancing sails, and a deck house. This acted as a floating pontoon which was to be towed to London by the ship Olga, commanded by Captain Booth.[4]
The effort almost met with disaster on 14 October 1877, in a storm in the
Erection
This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2020) |
The original master stone mason who worked on the granite foundation was Lambeth-born William Henry Gould (1822–1891).[citation needed]
On erection of the obelisk in 1878, a time capsule was concealed in the front part of the pedestal, containing 12 photographs of the best-looking English women of the day, a box of hairpins, a box of cigars, several tobacco pipes, a set of imperial weights, a baby's bottle, some children's toys, a shilling razor, a hydraulic jack and some samples of the cable used in the erection, a 3-foot (90-centimetre) bronze model of the monument, a complete set of contemporary British coins, a rupee, a portrait of Queen Victoria, a history of the transport of the monument plans, written on vellum, a translation of the inscriptions, copies of the Bible in several languages, a copy of John 3:16 in 215 languages,[8] a copy of Whitaker's Almanack, a Bradshaw Railway Guide, a map of London, and copies of 10 daily newspapers. A twenty-four inch metal ruler (see p.173 Born in Blood by John J. Robinson)
Cleopatra's Needle is flanked by two faux-Egyptian
See also
References
- ^ Wallis Budge, E. A. (1926). Cleopatra's Needles and Other Egyptian Obelisks. London: Religious Tract Society. pp. 168–171.
- ^ "in2013dollars.com". In 2013 Dollars. 8 June 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- ^ "Waynman Dixon". Graces Guide. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
- ^ "Royal Museums Greenwich". Royal Museums Greenwich. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
- ^ "That Darn Needle!". Thames Tugs (enthusiast site). Retrieved 28 December 2007.
- ^ "SS Anglia". Thames Tugs (enthusiast site). Retrieved 28 December 2007.
- ^ Chaney, Edward (2011). "Roma Britannica and the Cultural Memory of Egypt: Lord Arundel and the Obelisk of Domitian". In Marshall, D.; Wolfe, K.; Russell, S. (eds.). Roma Britannica: Art Patronage and Cultural Exchange in Eighteenth-Century Rome. British School at Rome. pp. 147–70.
- ^ Canton, William (1904). The Story of the Bible Society. London: John Murray. p. 1.
External links
- Media related to Cleopatra's Needle (London) at Wikimedia Commons