Cleopatra's Needle

London, United Kingdom (GB)

Art - Misc
Links: en.wikipedia.org, www.historic-uk.com
By: kkeps

Nearby:

Golden Jubilee Bridges

Two Former Southern Tunnel Portals of the Kingsway Tram Subway

RNLI Tower Lifeboat Station

Savoy Pier

Statue of Michael Faraday

BFI Southbank

Comments

chaswatson

@ 2016-01-29 08:28:17

On the north west bank of the River Thames is an Egyptian obelisk known as "Cleopatra's Needle". The obelisk, which is covered with hieroglyphs, was made in 1460BC and arrived in London in 1878.

The obelisk has nothing to do with Cleopatra and was carved for Pharoah Thotmes III. The Cleopatra connection came from the name of the vessel/barge used to transport the obelisk. The journey from Egypt to the UK was not without incident with six crew on the "Olga", the vessel towing the "Cleopatra" being killed when they attempted to rescue the "Cleopatra's" crew in a storm. The "Olga" managed to get alongside the "Cleopatra" and rescued the men on board. At that point, the "Cleopatra" was cut adrift. The storm abated and the "Cleopatra" was again taken under tow and arrived safely in London via Ferrol.