obelisk
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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obelisk