Carlitos Lunghi Site

                The obelisks were a coveted booty for the insatiable conquerors of Egypt.
                Asurbanipal brought two to Assyria.  The Roman Emperors brought a good number
                to Rome, the city with the world's record with 13 obelisks (12 in Rome and 1 in the
                Vatican City) and also to Constantinople.
                When the Roman  Empire  was  in  decline,  one  by  one  the obelisks began to fall,
                remaining buried until  the  Renaissance  when  there  began  to  be  interest in them
                again.
                At the end of the 16th century, Pope Sixtus V conceived  of  the  idea  of  using  the
                obelisks as markers for pilgrims who visited Rome and it was his idea to  place them
                in  front  of  the  major  basilicas  so  that  they  might  be  visible  from  a  distance,
                "christianizing" them by adding a cross at the top.

 

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The History of the Egyptian Obelisk

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