The Unfinished Obelisk in Aswan

The Ancient Egyptian Obelisk’s were of significant importance as they stood in front of Temples generally in pairs as an indication to the Grand entrances. Mostly constructed of Red granite which was hewn from the granite rock at points along the River Nile then sailed to their destination points as far as Cairo and Alexandria. 

 

Directions: 

 

7 minutes drive from Aswan City centre and a 3 hour drive from Luxor City with an option to fly from Cairo to Aswan in about 1 hour. 

 

History:

 

The Unfinished Obelisk was cut out from the bedrock, but was abandoned after a flaw in the stone was discovered. Had it been finished, the obelisk would have weighed 1168 tons and stood nearly 42m high It is  reckoned that this was the intended mate for the so-called Lateran Obelisk in Rome, which originally stood before the temple of Tuthmosis III at Karnak and is still credited as being the largest obelisk in the world.From chisel marks and discarded tools, archeologists have been able to deduce pharaonic quarrying techniques, such as soaking wooden wedges to split fissures, and using quartz sand slurry as an abrasive.A visitor's trail runs through the quarries past some pictographs of dolphins and ostriches, painted by ancient quarry workers.

Interesting facts: There are more Obelisks worldwide now that left Egypt having been bought by various Governments and shipped overseas being placed in prominent positions in major cities such as Rome (11 in Italy in total), Paris, London ( 4 in the UK),Istanbul, Israel,  Poland and New York City along with many still in place at Temples and locations in Egypt (8 in total left in Egypt).