Plaque: Cleopatra's needle - war damage
The scars that disfigure the pedestal of the obelisk, the bases of the sphinxes, and the right hand sphinx, were caused by fragments of a bomb dropped in the roadway close to this spot, in the first raid on London by German aeroplanes a few minutes before midnight on Tuesday 4th September 1917.
Site: Cleopatra's needle (2 memorials)
WC2, Victoria Embankment
A misnomer since there is no connection with Cleopatra at all. In 1500 BC Pharaoh Thothmes erected three red granite obelisks at Heliopolis. The Romans took them to Alexandria in 12 BC where an earthquake brought them down. In 1819, following Nelson's victory at the Battle of the Nile Britain was presented with this obelisk by the Viceroy of Egypt. It was not until 1877 that funds had been raised for shipment to London. It was almost lost in the Bay of Biscay in a storm in which 6 crew were killed and the barge broke loose. But eventually it reached London and was erected on a plinth containing a time capsule from that era. Its mates are erected in Central Park, New York, and in Place de la Concorde, Paris.
Go to map of other memorials in this area
