Unfinished Obelisk

Approx. Time: 2 hours
Activity Level: Easy to Moderate

This damaged obelisk would have been the world’s largest piece of stone Handled, had a crack in the stone not occurred! Much of the red granite used for ancient temples and colossi came from quarries in the Aswan area. Around these quarries are many inscriptions, some of which describe successful quarrying projects. The Unfinished Obelisk, located in the Northern Quarry, still lies where it stood when the crack was discovered. Possibly intended as a companion to the Lateran Obelisk, originally at Karnak but now in Rome, it would have weighed over 2.3 million pounds. However, the discovery of the crack caused it to be abandoned. The tools left by its carvers have given us much insight into how such work was performed.

Courtesy of Egypt Tourism Board

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