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The largest standing and tallest Egyptian obelisk is the Lateran Obelisk in the square at the west side of the Lateran Basilica in Rome at 105.6 feet (32.2 m) tall and a weight of 455 metric tons (502 short tons). [15]
This obelisk is located in St. Peter's Square, in Vatican City. It is the only ancient obelisk in Rome that has never fallen. [1] [2] Made of red granite, it has a height of 25.3 meters and, together with the cross and the base (composed of four bronze lions, by Prospero Antichi), it reaches almost 40 meters.
The Lateran Obelisk is the largest standing ancient Egyptian obelisk in the world, and it is also the tallest obelisk in Italy. It originally weighed 413 tonnes (455 short tons), but after collapsing and being re-erected 4 metres (13 ft) shorter, now weighs around 300 tonnes (330 short tons). [ 1 ]
The city of Rome harbours thirteen ancient obelisks, the most in the world.There are eight ancient Egyptian and five ancient Roman obelisks in Rome, together with a number of more modern obelisks; there was also until 2005 an ancient Ethiopian obelisk in Rome.
The most recent ancient obelisk to be re-erected is the 17-metre-tall Ramses II obelisk in Tahrir Square, the main city square of Cairo, having been reassembled from eight blocks discovered at Tanis in the late 19th century. [8]
The two obelisks were slightly different heights, and the one remaining in Luxor is taller. The shorter obelisk was mounted on a taller pedestal and placed farther from the pylon than the other. To an advancing spectator the obelisks may have appeared to be the same height, and this design choice may have been highly deliberate. [2] [3]
Its height is 67.5 metres (221 ft), and 63 metres (207 ft) of these are up to the initiation of the apex, which is 3.5 by 3.5 meters (11 by 11 ft). The tip is blunt, measuring 40 centimeters (16 in) and ends in a lightning rod that cannot be seen because of the height; its cables run through the interior of the obelisk. [6]
The Obelisk of Axum (Tigrinya: ሓወልቲ ኣኽሱም, romanized: ḥawelti Akhsum; Amharic: የአክሱም ሐውልት, romanized: Ye’Åksum ḥāwelt) is a 4th-century CE, 24-metre (79 ft) tall phonolite [3] stele, weighing 160 tonnes (160 long tons; 180 short tons), in the city of Axum in Ethiopia.