Cleopatras Needle London

Cleopatra's Needle is London’s popular tourist attraction and is an Ancient Egyptian obelisk re-erected in London also there are similar obelisk in Paris, and New York. The obelisks were re-erected in the early 19th century. The obelisk is made of red granite, stands about 21 meters tall in height and weighs about 180 tons and dates back 1450 BC. The Needle is located in the City of Westminster, on the Victoria Embankment next to the Golden Jubilee Bridge.

The obelisk was presented the British in 1819 to commemorate the English victory of Battle of the Nile & Battle of Alexandria by Mehemet Ali, viceroy of Egypt. The obelisk remained in Egypt till 1877 due to lack of funding. Sir William James Erasmus Wilson sponsored its transportation to London at a cost of £10,000 and finally arrived in England on 21 January 1878. It was erected at its current place on 12 September 1878.

Cleopatra's Needle is flanked by two faux-Egyptian sphinxes cast from bronze that have hieroglyphic inscriptions engraved on them and say “the good god, Thuthmosis III given life”. During the first air raid of London in World War I, a bomb exploded near the needle and caused shrapnel wounds on the right hand sphinx. The damage is still left un-repaired as a commemoration to that day.