Obelisk of Montecitorio

The Obelisco di Montecitorio or Obelisco Solare is an Egyptian obelisk in Rome. He stands in Piazza Montecitorio in front of the Palazzo Montecitorio. With a height of 21.79 m (without base and ball on the top ), it is the fifth largest obelisk in Rome.

History

He was ( BC 595-589 ), in Heliopolis built in the 6th century BC under Pharaoh Psammetichus II, the third king of the 26th dynasty. Augustus took him 12 to 10 BC to Rome and let him set up in the Campus Martius, where he was a gnomon (pointer ) for the gigantic - served sundial - 1748 rediscovered. 1748 Pope Benedict XIV was the stone behind the Palazzo Montecitorio - Piazza del Parlamento today - rediscovered, of which there is an inscription of Benedict XIV reported. In the inscription on the base Pius VI can. explicitly mention that Benedict XIV had the obelisk simply left. It was not until 1792 under Pope Pius VI. he has been renovated using material from the broken column of honor for Antoninus Pius and erected at its present location.

The ancient consecration inscription reads:

Most of the Egyptian inscriptions are eroded and barely legible. Only a list of the names and titles of the king 's good to decipher: The Golden Horus, beautifies the two countries, beloved of Aten, Lord of Heliopolis, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, beloved of Re - Harakhti, who gained the White Crown and the double crown of united, Psammetichus, loved by the souls of Heliopolis.