Cleopatra's Needle (New York City)
40°46′47″N 73°57′55″W / 40.779612°N 73.965414°W
Cleopatra's Needle in
History
In antiquity
Made of red
The obelisks were moved to Alexandria and set up in the Caesareum—a temple built by Cleopatra in honor of Mark Antony or Julius Caesar—by the Romans in 13/12 BC, during the reign of Augustus.[5] However, the obelisks were toppled some time later. This had the fortuitous effect of burying their faces and so preserving most of the hieroglyphs from the effects of weathering.
American acquisition
The original idea to secure an Egyptian obelisk for New York City came from the March 1877 New York City newspaper accounts of the transporting of the London obelisk. The newspapers mistakenly attributed to a John Dixon the 1869 proposal of the Khedive of Egypt,
In March 1877,
Stebbins then sent two acceptance letters to the Khedive through the Department of State which forwarded them to Judge Farman in Cairo. Realizing that he might be able to secure one of the two remaining upright obelisks—either the mate to the Paris obelisk in Luxor or the London mate in Alexandria—Judge Farman formally asked the Khedive in March 1877, and by May 1877 he had secured the gift in writing.[6]: ch.XIV
Importing
The formidable task of moving the obelisk from Alexandria to New York was given to Henry Honychurch Gorringe, a lieutenant commander on leave from the U.S. Navy. The 200-ton granite obelisk was first shifted from vertical to horizontal, nearly crashing to ground in the process. In August 1879[8] the movement process was suspended for two months because of local protests and legal challenges. Once those were resolved, the obelisk was transported seven miles to Alexandria and then put into the hold of the steamship SS Dessoug, which set sail June 12, 1880.[6]: Ch.XVI The Dessoug was heavily modified with a large hole cut into the starboard side of its bow. The obelisk was loaded through the ship's hull by rolling it upon cannonballs.[9]
Even with a broken propeller, the SS Dessoug was able to make the journey to the United States.[9] The obelisk and its 50-ton pedestal arrived at the Quarantine Station in New York in early July 1880. It took 32 horses hitched in pairs to bring it from the banks of the East River to Central Park. Railroad ramps and tracks had to be temporarily removed and the ground flattened so that the obelisk could be rolled out of the ship, whose side had been cut open once again for the purpose. The obelisk was carried up the East River and transported to a temporary location off Fifth Avenue.[4] The final leg of the journey was made by pushing the obelisk with a steam engine across a specially built trestle bridge from Fifth Avenue to its new home on Greywacke Knoll, just across the drive from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[10] It took 112 days to move the obelisk from Quarantine Station to its resting place.[11]
Jesse B. Anthony, Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York, presided as the cornerstone for the obelisk was laid in place with full Masonic ceremony on October 2, 1880.[12] Over 9,000 Masons paraded up Fifth Avenue from 14th Street to 82nd Street, and it was estimated that over 50,000 spectators lined the parade route. The benediction was presented by Rev. J. Bradford Cleaver. The obelisk was righted by a special structure built by Henry Honychurch Gorringe. The official ceremony for erecting the obelisk was held January 22, 1881. The event was commemorated a month later with another ceremony inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Location
The obelisk was placed on an obscure site behind the museum. Henry Honeychurch Gorringe, who supervised the movement of the obelisk, William Henry Hulbert, who was involved in early development of the plan, and Frederic Edwin Church, a cofounder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a member of the Department of Public Parks in New York City, selected the site of the obelisk in 1879.[13] Gorringe wrote, "In order to avoid needless discussion of the subject, it was decided to maintain the strictest secrecy as to the location determined on." He noted that the prime advantage of the Knoll was its "isolation" and that it was the best site to be found inside the park, as it was quite elevated and the foundation could be firmly anchored in bedrock, lest Manhattan suffer "some violent convulsion of nature."
Hieroglyphs
The surface of the stone is heavily weathered, nearly masking the rows of Egyptian hieroglyphs engraved on all sides. Photographs taken near the time the obelisk was erected in the park show that the inscriptions or hieroglyphs, as depicted below with translation,
Buried objects
A time capsule buried beneath the obelisk contains an 1870 U.S. census, a Bible, a Webster's Dictionary, the complete works of William Shakespeare, a guide to Egypt, and a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence. A small box was also placed in the capsule by the man who arranged the obelisk's purchase and transportation, but its contents remain unknown.[16]
See also
References
- ^ "Obelisk". The Official Website of Central Park NYC. January 29, 2019. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-87099-680-1.
- ^ Moldenke, Charles Edward (1891). The New York Obelisk, Cleopatra's Needle: With a Preliminary Sketch of the History, Erection, Uses, and Signification of Obelisks. CRL-E-Resources. A. D. F. Randolph and Company. p. 41.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-300-11465-2.
- ^ Pfeiffer, Stefan (2015). Griechische und lateinische Inschriften zum Ptolemäerreich und zur römischen Provinz Aegyptus. Einführungen und Quellentexte zur Ägyptologie (in German). Vol. 9. Münster: Lit. pp. 217–219.
- ^ a b c d Farman, Elbert E. (1908). "XIV–XV". Egypt and its Betrayal. p. 154.
- ^ "centralpark2000.com". www.centralpark2000.com. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
- ^ Gorringe, Henry H. (1885). "Removal of the Alexandrian Obelisk, 'Cleopatra's Needle,' to New York". Egyptian Obelisks. London. p. 31.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b "NYC – Cleopatra's Needle". ImagerySmith. March 2012. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
- ^ "Popa's Tales: Egyptian Obelisks". Archived from the original on July 3, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
- ^ "NOVA Online | Mysteries of the Nile | A World of Obelisks: New York". Pbs.org. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
- ISBN 978-0521385404.
- ^ Obelisk in Central Park, drhawass.com "Obelisk in Central Park | drhawass.com – Zahi Hawass". Archived from the original on November 9, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
- ^ Farman, Elbert E. (1908). "History of Obelisk and Inscription". Egypt and its Betrayal. New York City: Grafton Press. pp. 189–191. Retrieved March 22, 2023 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Obelisk". Central Park Conservancy. January 29, 2019. Archived from the original on June 8, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
Further reading
- D'Alton, Martina (1993). The New York obelisk, or, How Cleopatra's Needle came to New York and what happened when it got here. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 0870996800.