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Only 7 obelisks remained in
Egypt, one in Luxor, of Ramses II, three in Karnak: Tuthmonsis
I, Hatshepsut, Seti I, and other three in Cairo: one next to the
Gezira Tower, one in Heliopolis to the Ra Temple and one in
front of the international airport, the first that welcomes you
at your arriving in Cairo. Two small obelisks are in the Luxor
Museum and one at the Durham University England. The obelisk
from Island Gezira: the garden that houses that obelisk is in
the Island Gezira from Cairo, next to the Andaluz gardens. The
obelisk dates from the Ramses II` s times, has 13, 5 meters
height and initially it was raised in Tanis, at 110 kilometers
North East of Cairo. Today the city is called San el-Hagar. The
obelisk was transported to Cairo after 1958 because there was no
obelisk. Today is placed on the Island Gezira, across the famous
tower of 187 meters built by Nasser in Cairo in 1961, and it has
a unprivileged position. The obelisk from Heliopolis or the
Senusret`s obelisk has a height of 20.4 meters, 121 tones and is
a red granite obelisk. It is the oldest obelisk from the 30.
Built in the 20th century BC in Heliopolis - homage chair for
the sun god Ra where the temple of this god was also built.
Heliopolis was also the capital of Upper Egypt but it is
specially know as an important religious center. The temple of
the sun situated here was the second as size, after the one of
Amun from Karnak. This red granite obelisk is situated now in
Midan el-Massala, next to the railway station El Matareyya. They
say that Sesostris raised two obelisks in front of the
Heliopolis Temple in 1942 BC. |
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