Cleopatra’s Needle
One of my favorite monuments in New York City is one I run by numerous days a week, Cleopatra’s Needle. It’s a 3,500 year old ancient Egyptian obelisk behind The Metropolitan Museum of Art that sticks out in the park’s green space. It amuses me that most passers by probably don’t really think about its significance or why it’s even there!
Cleopatra’s Needle (Spring) - Photo: Chris Baker
Cleopatra’s Needle (Winter) - Photo: Chris Baker
Cleopatra’s Needle (or Needles as we should properly be stating) is one of two Egyptian obelisks weighing 200 tons and carved out of red granite. Built in 1475 BC on orders from King Thutmose III, they stood in the ancient city of Heliopolis. The inscriptions were added 200 years later when King Ramses II used them to boast of his military victories.
Around 12 BC they were taken by the Romans to Alexandria and erected in a temple built by Cleopatra to honor Mark Antony. After that the obelisks lay toppled for many many centuries and were kind of forgotten about as time passed by and new civilizations came to be.
Cleopatra’s Needle in Alexandria - Illustration: Public Domain
So how did Cleopatra’s Needle end up in NYC? Jealousy of course! In 1877 the Egyptian government had given one of the obelisks to London and once word hit the streets of New York there was a public outcry. Therefore, the Commissioner of NYC Parks set up a fundraising campaign and thanks to some generous donations ($100,000 from William H. Vanderbilt) they were able to secure an obelisk for NYC.
London’s obelisk overlooking the Thames. I like ours better. - Photo: Mrs Ellacott
What I think most of us don’t realize when we are looking at this amazing 3,500 year old sculpture is how challenging it was to get here in the 1880’s. It was an engineering marvel!
Egypt circa 1878 - Photo: NYPL Digital Archives
Cleopatra’s Needle in dry dock waiting to be loaded onto the USS Dessoug. Photo: NYPL Digital Archives
Henry Honeychurch Gorringe, a lieutenant commander in the US Navy, was assigned the task of getting it here. After some challenging maneuvering (it weighs 200 tons) it was loaded into the USS Dessoug on June 12, 1880 and arrived in NYC July of the same year. Once on the shores of the North River and 96th Street, it traversed a specially built railroad uphill towards Central Park across the sparsely populated Upper West Side. This took 19 days!
The obelisk on the banks of the North River. - Photo: NYPL Digital Archives
Once it arrived in front of The Met it sat for 20 days while a blizzard disabled the city, during which time treasure hunting New Yorker’s arrived with chisels hoping to get a piece of Cleopatra’s Needle.
Eventually, and to much fanfare, Gorringe installed Cleopatra’s Needle using a contraption he designed on January 22, 1881.
Awaiting installation behind The Met. - Photo: NYPL Digital Archives
Cleopatra’s Needle behind The Met. Notice how small the museum was in 1881 before expansion! Those arched windows can still be seen in the southern sculpture wing. - Photo: NYPL Digital Archives
Photo: Chris Baker
The next time you’re strolling through Central Park stop for a minute to appreciate just how out of place and far from home Cleopatra’s Needle is. It’s the oldest human made object (3,500 years) in all of New York City and probably has a few good stories to tell.
