The London monument known as Cleopatra's Needle bears echoes of a pair of obelisks, the Cleopatra's Needles, residing in the ruins of the Caesareum of Alexandria. The London obelisk, adorned with inscriptions from Thutmose III and Ramesses II of the Egyptian New Kingdom, was shipped and erected in the West End of London on the Victoria Embankment in Westminster in 1878, as a gift for the Prince Regent by Muhammad Ali.
The obelisk's ocean journey included its encasement in a great iron cylinder, 92 feet long and 16 feet in diameter, designed by the engineer John Dixon. This acted as a floating pontoon which was to be towed to London by the ship Olga, commanded by Captain Booth, and later the Anglia. The ships set off from Alexandria on 21 September 1877. Although the British government welcomed the gift, it declined to pay to move the obelisk to London; the transportation was sponsored by Sir William Wilson at a cost of some £10,000.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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