Carlitos Lunghi Site

                  The obelisk was erected by Amenhotep II  to  his  father  Khnum-Re  at a
                  place called on the obelisk the Alter-of-Ra.
                  Maked in red granite with 2,12 meters without pedestal.
                  It  was  discovered  in  the ruins of a village in the Thebaid, in Elephantine
                  Island in 1838.
                  The Duke Algernon,4th Duke of Northumberland,travelled extensively and
                  spent much time in Egypt.He collected Egyptian antiquities and formed the
                  Duke Algernon Collection.
                  The obelisk  was  presented to him from the Egyptian viceroy Mohammed
                  Ali in 1838, and added to the collection.
                  Most  of the  Duke  Algernon Collection was stored in one of the towers in
                  the  perimeter  wall  of  Alnwick  (pronounced "Annick")  Castle.  But   the
                  obelisk was separately kept in Robert Adam's Great Hall of Syon House at
                  Brentford, Middlesex, now part of the London metropolitan area.
                  In 1950, all the Duke Algernon Collection including the obelisk was sold  to
                  the University of Durham.
                  It  is  uncertain  whether  the  obelisk  came to  Durham directly from Syon
                  House or by way of Alnwick,but the fact the modern pedestal of the obelisk
                  is at Alnwick would suggest that it probably came via Alnwick.
                  Now, all  the  Duke  Algernon  Collection  is in the Oriental Museum, at the
                  Thacker Room - Egyptian Gallery at the University of Durham.
                  The obelisk has a single line of inscription down one side only,the other sides
                  having been left plain. The inscription  is  cut  plain, and  the name of Amen
                  has been anciently erased by the disk-worshippers of the 18th Dynasty, and
                  after the restration of the worship of Amen Ra again inserted.
                  The inscription says, "Amenhotep II made as  his  monument  to  his  father
                  Khnum-Re, the making for him of two obelisks of the Alter-of-Ra ....."
                  Among all standing obelisks in the world, this is the only one that is indoors.

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