London is home to plenty of history - from ruins to grand palaces, monuments to ancient artefacts. Founded by the Romans in 43 CE, it has been under the rule of numerous Royal households, including the Anglo-Saxons, Normans, Tudors and Stuarts. Parts of Essex, later incorporated into London, were also under Danish rule.

However, many Londoners are unaware that one monument on the River Thames' banks predates London itself by about 1,500 years. It's so ancient that it even predates the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, meaning it was constructed before England became English.

Interestingly, the oldest monument in London wasn't even built in Britain. Instead, it was transported all the way from Egypt. If you're a Londoner you've probably walked past it many times - it's none other than Cleopatra's Needle. Situated on the Victoria Embankment near the Golden Jubilee Bridges in the City of Westminster, this 68ft obelisk was constructed in Ancient Egypt around 1450 BC.

Cleopatra's Needle London
The obelisk is covered in ancient hieroglyphic text

History enthusiasts and Ancient Egypt experts would tell you that this was during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III, of the 18th Dynasty. Some 200 years after the obelisk's creation, Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II adorned it with hieroglyphs commemorating his successful military campaigns.

Despite its moniker, the obelisk was actually constructed over 1,000 years before the reign of Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra VII. It's said that Cleopatra had the obelisk relocated to her city, Alexandria, from its original location in Heliopolis.

The obelisk was intended to be part of a new temple that Cleopatra was constructing in Alexandria, but it didn't reach the city until 15 years after her death. Instead, the obelisk was discarded and remained concealed in the sands of the Egyptian desert until 1819, when Muhammad Ali Pasha, the then-ruler of Egypt, offered it to Britain as a gift.

This gift was meant to honour Lord Nelson's triumph at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 and Sir Ralph Abercromby's victory at the Battle of Alexandria in 1801. However, it took Britain nearly six decades to arrange the collection and delivery of the gift to the UK.

The First Attempt at Launching', 1877, (1910). Cleopatra's Needle was originally erected in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis on the orders of Thutmose III, around 1450 BC. It remained in Alexandria until October 1877 when it was transport to London funded by William James Erasmus Wilson. From The Strand Magazine. [George Newnes Ltd., London, 1910] Artist Unknown. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)
The mission to bring Cleopatra's Needle to London was incredibly complex

Transporting the obelisk proved too expensive and logistically challenging, leading Britain to initially decline the offer. The idea of bringing the obelisk to London was reconsidered in 1851, for the Great Exhibition, and again in 1867, after a Greek merchant who owned the land where the obelisk lay threatened to destroy it.

On both occasions, Britain couldn't afford the delivery fee - so by 1877, the public had grown tired of waiting for the government to foot the bill, and raised a whopping £15,000 to transport the 200-ton wonder. Sir William Erasmus Wilson, a surgeon and dermatologist, alone covered £10,000 of the costs.

Given the obelisk's massive size and weight, moving it to London was no small feat. The obelisk had to be encased in a 93ft long, 15 ft wide iron cylinder, resembling a giant cigar, and then rolled off land with the help of levers and chains into the Mediterranean sea.

The cylinder was then fitted with a deckhouse, mast, rudder and steering gear, transforming it into a makeshift craft which was christened 'Cleopatra'. The Cleopatra was manned by a crew of Maltese sailors led by Henry Carter, and attached to a steamship called Olga, which would tow the obelisk to Britain under the command of Captain Booth.

The Obelisks at Alexandria, called Cleopatra's Needles', Egypt, 1802. View of one of the pair of Ancient Egyptian obelisk dating from c1500 BC. One of the obelisks was transported from Egypt to London in 1878 at the expense of Sir William James Erasmus Wilson, and erected on the Thames Embankment, while the other was taken to New York and erected in Central Park in 1881. Plate 12 from Views in Egypt, 1802. Artist Thomas Milton. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
A painting by Thomas Milton from 1802 shows the obelisk as it would have stood in Egypt

Departing from Egypt on September 21, 1877, it took a full three months for the obelisk to reach Gravesend on January 21, 1878. However, the journey was far from smooth for the historic monument. On October 14, 1877, the Olga and the Cleopatra were caught in a storm off the Bay of Biscay, off the west coast of France.

The Cleopatra was in danger of sinking, so six brave crewmen from the Olga tried to save the sailors aboard the Cleopatra from drowning. Tragically, the would-be heroes themselves lost their lives in their rescue attempt when their lifeboat filled with water. The men who perished were William Askin, Michael Burns, James Gardiner, William Donald, Joseph Benton and William Patan.

All the crew aboard the Cleopatra were eventually saved, but the rope towing the Cleopatra had to be cut, leaving the ship and the obelisk adrift at sea. It was a terrible outcome for those who had invested so much money to bring the obelisk to London, but fortunately the Cleopatra didn't sink. The ship was spotted five days later floating off the Spanish port of Ferrol.

The Cleopatra was retrieved and finally brought to Britain, but even after its arrival, the obelisk remained in the ship for another six months while city planners debated what to do with it. A potential site in Parliament Square was rejected, while District Railway officials warned that erecting the obelisk in Embankment Gardens could pose a risk to trains running underneath it.

Sphinx on London Embankment, located next to Cleopatra's Needle.
Two giant Sphinx statues sit beside the obelisk

The public also ridiculed it, with one headline saying it was 'fatally suggestive of a factory chimney'. Eventually the site where it currently stands was identified. The obelisk was removed from the Cleopatra and the ship was subsequently scrapped for its metal.

Two magnificent bronze sphinxes adorned with hieroglyphics translating to 'the good god, Thuthmosis III given life' were crafted by George John Vulliamy and installed beside the obelisk in 1881. Initially, the sphinxes gazed outwards, seemingly guarding the obelisk; however, a contractor's mistake later turned them inwards to face it.

The pedestal bears an inscription: "This obelisk Prostrate for centuries on the sands of Alexandria was presented to the British nation A.D. 1819 by Mahommed Ali Viceroy of Egypt. A worthy memorial of our distinguished countrymen Nelson and Abercromby". A separate plaque pays tribute to the sailors who lost their lives transporting the obelisk, saluting their efforts to rescue their comrades.

Beneath the obelisk lies a time capsule filled with quintessential British symbols, including a lounge suit, illustrated newspapers (like the day's edition of The Times), Bradshaw's Railway Guide, Queen Victoria's portrait, women's attire and toiletries, Bibles, children's playthings, coins, a razor, and pictures of the most stunning women of the era. Despite the bombings during the World Wars, Cleopatra's Needle managed to survive.

The sphinxes, their bases and the obelisk's pedestal were scarred in a German air raid in September 1917. Yet, after 143 years, this 3,500 year old monument still stands tall and proud amidst London's constantly changing landscape.

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