The Unfinished Obelisk

The unfinished obelisk is the only historical thing that makes the quarry important, but its location on Egypt’s border with Africa gives it a lot of cultural and civilizational significance. Because of its location, civilizations from all over the world have passed through it; it has great cultural and civilizational importance.

Some vast barges on the Nile were used to transport the obelisks, but they were only needed during the annual flood. Obelisks were already waiting for him when he reached the last monument.

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What is the unfinished obelisk?

The Unfinished Obelisk, also called the Incomplete Obelisk, is a 42-meter-tall obelisk made out of pink granite. Most people think it is the tallest Egyptian obelisk and weighs 1,000 tonnes. Here, you can see a big crack in the surface.

What is an obelisk used for?

Queen Hatshepsut ordered this giant unfinished obelisk to show her subjects that she was strong and in charge and to ensure that her rule as Egypt’s only female monarch was absolute. She did this by providing that an obelisk of this size be built.

Construction of Unfinished Obelisk:

Obelisks are enormous, square-shaped columns with a pyramidal crown at the top. The Obelisk might perhaps be located in one of the higher Aswan quarries.

Nearly 1,090 metric tonnes would have been the weight of a completed model, which would have been around 41.75 meters (137.0 feet) long (1,200 short metric tonnes).

To smooth out any flaws, they used stone balls.

Visitors to this outdoor museum are given a presentation on the history of stonecutting and have the opportunity to practice their skills on actual, gigantic stones.

 

Unfinished Obelisk Facts:

• It is believed that Hatshepsut, who ruled from 1508 to 1458 BC, gave the order to build it, and it was supposed to be a mirror image of the building now called the Lateran Obelisk. At one point, it was moved from where it was before at Karnak to the Lateran Palace in Rome.
• Although it is more than a third more important than any other obelisk made of ancient Egyptian materials, the unfinished obelisk was never completed.
• After seeing flaws in the granite, the workers abandoned their plans to carve the obelisk directly out of the rock.
• The obelisk is still firmly rooted in the ground where its base is.
• There is a possibility that the rock carvings and other artifacts found are related to the whereabouts of most of the famous obelisks.
• Aswan’s quarries and any unfinished works of art are considered ancient sites, so the Egyptian government has laws to protect them.
• With a height of 42 meters, this obelisk would have been the tallest in all of ancient Egypt had it been built. It would have been the tallest building in the country because it was so tall.
• The unfinished obelisk is 10 meters higher than the Lateran obelisk in Rome, Italy, although the Lateran obelisk is the tallest completed structure in the world.
• It is believed to weigh about 1,200 tons, making it one of the largest monoliths in the world. It is also the first giant obelisk from ancient Egypt that was ever found.
• In Upper Egypt, in the Aswan Governorate, many ancient stone quarries provided the best granite for old Egyptian buildings.
• The missing pieces may have been from the unfinished obelisk in the northern quarries near Aswan.

 

The Unfinished Obelisk at Aswan is the tallest obelisk ever built in the ancient world. It is in Egypt, and the ancient Greeks gave the obelisk the name we still use today. The Egyptians used various tools to cut the blocks into wooden wedges, which they then put into rectangular holes they drilled in the rock and filled with water to expand and break the rock.

Even though smaller obelisks were built before the New Empire, the time when bigger ones were made started at the same time as the New Empire. The Unfinished Obelisk is a fascinating building that can be seen in Aswan, and it is one of the most popular places for tourists to visit in the Aswan area.

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