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Location: Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy Height:
16.54 meters Weight: unknown Red granite
In AD 81, the obelisk now in Piazza Navona was erected
near the Iseum by Emperor Domitian in memory of his accession. The emperor ordered
that the obelisk be extracted from Aswan. The obelisk is carved with hieroglyphs in
the name of the emperor.
In AD 309, Emperor Maxentius transferred the obelisk to the circus along the Appian Way.
In 1651, Pope Innocent X chose the Piazza Navona to reerect the obelisk. The obelisk
now stands above a fountain designed by Giocanni Lorenzo Bernini. Bernini designed
this fountain as an allegory of the four continent: Asia, Africa, Europe and America.
[ Heliopolis ] [ Tuthmosis I ] [ Hatshepsut ] [ Istanbul ] [ Laterano ] [ London ] [ New York ] [ Luxor ] [ Philae ] [ Paris ] [ Popolo ] [ Rotunda ] [ Boboli ] [ Terme ] [ Vatican ] [ El Ghezira ] [ Celimontana ] [ Sethos II ] [ Citorio ] [ Minerva ] [ Esquilino ] [ Quirinale ] [ Navona ] [ Spanish Steps ] [ Pincio ] [ Rosetta Stone ] [ Champollion ] [ Unfinished Obelisk ]
