Cleopatra's Needle

Cleopatra's Needle is an ancient Egyptian obelisk now standing on the Victoria Embankment.

The red granite monument was originally erected in the city of Heliopolis on the orders of Thutmose III, around 1450 BC. The inscription was added about 200 years later by Ramesses II to commemorate his military victories. Moved to Alexandria and set up in the Caesareum – a temple built by Cleopatra in 12 BC, it was later toppled.

It was presented to the United Kingdom in 1819 by the ruler of Egypt and Sudan Muhammad Ali, in commemoration of the victories of Lord Nelson at the Battle of the Nile and Sir Ralph Abercromby at the Battle of Alexandria in 1801.

The obelisk remained in Alexandria until 1877 when Sir William James Erasmus Wilson sponsored its transportation to London. It was dug out of the sand and encased in a an iron cylinder, 92 feet (28 m) long and 16 feet (4.9 m) in diameter. Named "Cleopatra", it acted as a floating pontoon which was to be towed to London. The Cleopatra nearly snak in a storm in Bay of Biscay in October 1877, but was saved, arriving in the Thames Estuary in January 1878.

The needle was finally erected on 12 September 1878. A time capsule is concealed in the front part of the pedestal, containing : A set of 12 photographs of the best looking English women of the day, a box of hairpins, a box of cigars, several tobacco pipes, a set of imperial weights, a baby's bottle, some children's toys, a shilling razor, a hydraulic jack and some samples of the cable used in erection, a 3' bronze model of the monument, a complete set of British coins, a rupee, a portrait of Queen Victoria, a written history of the strange tale of the transport of the monument, plans on vellum, a translation of the inscriptions, copies of the bible in several languages, a copy of John 3:16 in 215 languages, a copy of Whitaker's Almanack, a Bradshaw Railway Guide, a map of London and copies of 10 daily newspapers.

Cleopatra's Needle is flanked by two faux-Egyptian sphinxes cast from bronze that bear hieroglyphic inscriptions designed by George John Vullaimy, Architect to the Metropolitan Board of Works.