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Obelisco Flaminio

Historic site · Campo Marzio, Italy

The Egyptian obelisk at the centre of piazza del Popolo, carved about 1300 BC for the temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, with hieroglyphs ordered by Seti I and Ramesses II. Roma Capitale gives it as 25.90 m tall, or 36.50 m with base and cross.

History

In 10 BC it was set on the spina of the Circus Maximus, together with the Obelisco Campense, to mark Octavian Augustus' conquest of Egypt. Three centuries later the Obelisco Lateranense followed. It was re-erected in piazza del Popolo in 1589 under Sixtus V, and in 1823 Leone XII had Valadier give it the raised base with the lion fountains that carries it now. The Obelisco Campense stands today in Colonna as the Obelisco di Montecitorio, and the Obelisco Lateranense in Monti.

Visit

Piazza del Popolo, Roma RM

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