Photos

A short serie of view of the obelisk of Place de la Concorde, in Paris, at the end of a rainy afternoon.

Place de la Concorde is an important crossroad on the right bank of the Seine river, with two symetrical 18th buildings on the north side, the Seine in the south, the Champs Elysées starting of the left side and the Tuileries gardens on the right side. The obelisk is positionned in the center.

The obelisk was brought back from Egypt and erected in Paris in 1833. It is a good example of the importance of the interest in Egyptology in France in the 19h century, after the Egyptian expedition of Bonaparte and the transcrition of hieroglyths by Champollion in 1829.

This view shows two sides of the obelisk, including the base. You can see on the right of the base a carving explaining the process of erecting the monument. At the top, the pyramidion (a small golden covered metal cap, shaped as a pyramid)but it is hidden in this view.

For those who want ot learn more aobut the monument, this is the extract of Wikipedia :
"The center of the Place is occupied by a giant Egyptian obelisk decorated with hieroglyphics exalting the reign of the pharaoh Ramses II. It once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple. The viceroy of Egypt, Mehemet Ali, presented the 3,300-year-old Luxor Obelisk to France in 1829. King Louis-Philippe had it placed in the centre of Place de la Concorde in 1833. Given the technical limitations of the day, transporting it was no easy feat — on the pedestal are drawn diagrams explaining the machinery that were used for the transportation. The red granite column rises 23 metres high, including the base, and weighs over 250 tonnes. Missing its original cap, believed stolen in the 6th century BC, in 1998 the government of France added a gold-leafed pyramid cap to the top of the obelisk. The obelisk is flanked on both sides by fountains constructed at the time of its erection on the Place.
Without warning, in 2000, French urban climber Alain "Spiderman" Robert, using only his bare hands and feet and with no safety devices, scaled the obelisk all the way to the top."

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