Unfinished Obelisk

Introduction

The Unfinished Obelisk is a unique, interesting ancient Egyptian relic in Aswan—a gigantic granite obelisk still half-attached to the quarry bed, abandoned unfinished, vividly showing how the ancients quarried and carved those giant obelisks—a perfect "living textbook" of ancient Egyptian stonework. The obelisk is a iconic tall, tapering monument with a pyramidion top, usually paired before temple pylons, symbolizing the sun's rays. These giants were carved from single hard-granite blocks—a colossal engineering feat. Aswan was the main source of fine red granite (many obelisks and colossi came from here). This "Unfinished Obelisk" lies in an ancient quarry—planned (said for Queen Hatshepsut) as a huge obelisk; had it been finished it would have been among the largest, about 40-plus m tall and over 1,000 tons. But cracks appeared and work stopped, so it was abandoned, still attached on three sides to the bedrock. Precisely because it is unfinished, it uniquely and directly shows the ancients' quarrying and carving method (you can see the chisel marks)—of great historical and archaeological value. Visiting it is a unique, interesting Aswan experience.

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