Luxor Obelisk

The Luxor Obelisk is an Egyptian obelisk standing at the center of the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France. It was originally located at the... more

by Hany J

Title

Luxor Obelisk

Artist

Hany J

Medium

Photograph - Original Photo

Description

The Luxor Obelisk is an Egyptian obelisk standing at the center of the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France. It was originally located at the entrance to Luxor Temple in Egypt over 3,000 years ago (its twin still remains at the temple to this day ). It first arrived in Paris in December 1833, having been shipped from Luxor via Alexandria and Cherbourg (it was gifted to France by Muhammad Ali Pasha who was the ruler of Egypt at the time). Three years later it was moved to the center of Place de la Concorde by King Louis-Phillipe.

The obelisk is a yellow granite column, 23 metres (75 ft) high, including the base, and weighs over 250 metric tons. It is decorated with hieroglyphs exalting the reign of King Ramses II of Egypt.

On the pedestal are drawn diagrams explaining the complex machinery that was used for the transportation. The original Egyptian pedestal included the statues of sixteen fully sexed baboons and was deemed too obscene for public exhibition. It is now displayed in the Egyptian section of the Musée du Louvre.

Missing its original pyramidion (believed stolen in the 6th century BC), the government of France added a gold-leafed pyramid cap to the top of the obelisk in 1998. It was also classified as a historical monument in 1936.

The obelisk is flanked on both sides by fountains constructed at the time of its erection on the Place (more on the fountains in later images).

All images are taken with a Canon 5D III (full frame) and a Canon 7D II (crop frame) using a variety of Canon L-Series lenses, and Tamron and Sigma pro-line lenses; processed in RAW with ACR, PSC, Photomatix, and a variety of other imaging software.

All images are Copyright © 2016 Hany G. Jadaa; C.Chem. M.Sc. Eng.; and Copyright © 2016 Prince John Photography (the Artist). The material contained herein may not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or downloaded in any way, shape or form. All rights are reserved. Copying, altering, displaying or redistribution of any of these images without written permission from the Artist is strictly prohibited and will be prosecuted under US, Canadian, European, and Australian Copyright laws.

Image is available for purchase at higher resolution and no copyright stamps upon request. Please contact the artist directly at pjphotography@uniserve.com

Uploaded

July 28th, 2017