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obelisk
obelisk
A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
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2000
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© A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture 2000, originally published by Oxford University Press 2000. (Hide copyright information)
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obelisk. Lofty, four-sided, often
monolithic shaft, on a square or rectangular plan, tapering (i.e. diminishing) upwards, usually covered with hieroglyphs, with a pyramidal top. An Ancient Egyptian form, obelisks were found in pairs, flanking axes, such as a temple
dromos, but on their introduction to Europe from the time of Augustus (27 BC—AD 14), when the first Egyptian obelisks were re-erected in Rome from 10 BC, they were usually treated as single free-standing objects. They were again set up singly in
Renaissance Rome, this time on
pedestals, where they stand today as the centrepieces of major urban spaces (e.g. Piazza di San Pietro, Piazza del Pòpolo), and were widely copied as a form in Northern-European Mannerist work. Subsequently, obelisks were used as
eye-catchers, memorials, and the like, such as
Morrison's Ross Monument, Rostrevor, Co. Down (1826): it (like many C19 European and American obelisks) is not a monolith, but constructed of
ashlar.
Bibliography
J. Curl (2005);
Habachi (1984);
Iversen (1968);
Roullet (1972);
Jane Turner
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World has forgotten once-mighty obelisks
Newspaper article from: Chicago Sun-Times; 7/15/1990; ; 700+ words
; ...the horizon, the obelisk today is fighting...the few remaining obelisks are overshadowed...Theodosius erected an obelisk in the Byzantine...Sheikholeslami says obelisks are among the least...Freemasons linked obelisks with mysticism. America chose the obelisk style as the monument...
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ETHIOPIA: No plane to carry obelisk home?
Magazine article from: New African; 7/1/2004; ; 700+ words
; ...pledge to send home Ethiopia's famous obelisk. Gail Warden reports. Nearly 2,000...Fiumicino Airport. It is a 4th Century obelisk that was stolen by Mussolini in 1936...signed in 1947, Italy agreed to return the obelisk and many other items looted from Ethiopia...
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Constructing an engineering model for raising an Egyptian obelisk: even though ancient civilizations used simple machines and forces to accomplish their tasks, students need to realize that these machines and forces are incorporated in much of our modern technology.
Magazine article from: The Technology Teacher; 9/1/2009; ; 700+ words
; ...simple technology. Obelisks were tall monuments...and the sun god. Each obelisk was quarried from a...technological task of raising an obelisk contributed to the religious...the Egyptian empire. Obelisks stood at temple entrances...hieroglyphs). Each obelisk contained many pictographs...
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Update: First part of Ethiopia's Axum Obelisk returns home
News Wire article from: Xinhua News Agency; 4/19/2005; 700+ words
; ...Update: First part of Ethiopia's Axum Obelisk returns home EDDS: update with official...awaited first part of the historic Axum Obelisk arrived in Ethiopia's northern ancient...cargo plane, which loads the historical Obelisk, arrived at Axum Airport at 6:30 a...
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Interview: Richard Pankhurst discusses the upcoming return of the Axum Obelisk from Rome to Ethiopia
Transcript from: NPR All Things Considered; 3/3/2005; ; 700+ words
; ...could describe this obelisk for us. It was standing...achievement in bringing the obelisks to where they were...down ground. And these obelisks, of which the one in...the custom of building obelisks came to an end. BLOCK...promised to return the obelisk. What's taken so...
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 "Chicago Tribune (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service)")
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Italy's refusal to return Ethiopian obelisk a cultural slap in the face.
Newspaper article from: Chicago Tribune (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service); 3/8/2002; 700+ words
; ...emperors brought back obelisks, and for centuries...1,700-year-old obelisk from Axum, one of Ethiopia...archaeological sites. The obelisk was placed in front...the ancient Egyptian obelisks in Rome, but no one...anything about the Axum obelisk. For us, it means...
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Obelisk arrives back as Ethiopians rejoice
Newspaper article from: New York Beacon, The; 4/27/2005; 466 words
; ...section of a 1,700-year old stone obelisk looted by Italy nearly 70 years ago has arrived back in Ethiopia. The Axum obelisk is regarded as one of Ethiopia's...Tuesday with the middle part of the obelisk; the top and bottom should follow...
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First part of Ethiopia's Axum Obelisk returns home
News Wire article from: Xinhua News Agency; 4/19/2005; 475 words
; First part of Ethiopia's Axum Obelisk returns home ADDIS ABABA, April 19...awaited first part of the historic Axum Obelisk arrived in Ethiopia's northern ancient...cargo plane, which loads the historical Obelisk, arrived at Axum Airport at 6:30 a...
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The Axum Obelisk Coming Home to Ethiopia
News Wire article from: AP Online; 4/18/2005; ; 700+ words
; ...at the numerous obelisks in Aksum some 500...The collapsed obelisk in the foreground...workers wrapped the obelisk fragment in steel...several smaller obelisks. Weather will be...be seen in Axum. Obelisks are among the few...European force. "The obelisk is a symbol of pride...
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Obelisks and empires of the mind.(role of obelisks in Rome and other empires)
Magazine article from: American Scholar; 1/1/2002; ; 700+ words
; ...basilicas and placing obelisks near them as highly...to move the Vatican obelisk, he had already ordered...basilicas of the city? The obelisk meant many things to...of placing a single obelisk at the center of a great...In ancient Egypt, obelisks--which began to be...
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obelisk
Book article from: A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
obelisk. Lofty, four-sided, often...An Ancient Egyptian form, obelisks were found in pairs, flanking...when the first Egyptian obelisks were re-erected in Rome...Mannerist work. Subsequently, obelisks were used as eye-catchers...
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Egyptian Revival
Book article from: A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
...were many Egyptian artefacts, including obelisks , brought to Rome and re-erected to...Egyptian art were made in Europe. Ancient obelisks were again set up in Renaissance Rome...such as battered rectilinear buildings, obelisks, and pyramids , were combined with cubes...
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Bernini, Giovanni Lorenzo
Book article from: A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
...a powerful base for the Antique obelisk recovered from excavations), and the elephant carrying another Antique obelisk on its back outside the Church of...the figures were set against a fat obelisk-form. These were the precedents...
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Kircher, Athanasius (1602–1680)
Encyclopedia entry from: Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
...series of famous interpretations of the principal obelisks of Rome, namely the obelisk erected at the center of the sculptor Gian Lorenzo...assisted Bernini in devising the words beneath each obelisk and published his interpretations of them in 1650...
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Hawksmoor, Nicholas
Book article from: A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
...designed the Pyramid eyecatcher at Castle Howard (1728), the obelisk in the Market Place, Ripon, Yorks. (1702), and (with...Luke, Old Street, London (1727–33), with its obelisk-spire. In its essentials, Hawksmoor's architecture is...
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