Height: 20.87 meters.
Weight: 187 tons.
Material: red granite.
A pair of obelisks were set up in front of the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis for Tuthmosis III on the occasion of his Third Jubilee in 1468 B.C. On each face of each shaft are carved a central column of inscription by Tuthmosis III and subsidiary columns by Ramessess II on either side of it. Turkish Khedive Ismail sent this obelisk to the English Queen Victoria in September 1877. It was brought from Alexandria, Egypt. On 13th September 1878, it was set up on the Victoria Embankment along River Thames. Around A.D.10, Roman Emperor Augustus removed the pair to Alexandria and reerected them in front of the Cearsarium, the temple of the deified Julius Cearsar. These two obelisks acquired the name of "Cleopatra's Needles" although they were set up in Alexandria some twenty years after Cleopatra's death. In 1301, an earthquake brought down the obelisk which was later taken to London. The other remained standing until it was moved to New York.