Cleopatra’s Needle: An Obelisk for a Rising Metropolis

This chapter examines the earliest known archaeological gift to New York City: an ancient Egyptian obelisk, known as Cleopatra’s Needle. This chapter first outlines the history of obelisks as ancient Egyptian monuments and then as highly coveted symbols of victory from antiquity onward. It then considers the nineteenth-century Egyptian practice of gifting obelisks to France, Great Britain, and New York City. The gift of the obelisk to New York City is placed in the context of the entangled web of Egyptology, politics, and colonialism. Khedive Ismaïl Pasha, the ruler of Egypt, who was heavily indebted to various European powers, had specific aims with his gift of an obelisk to New York; he sought to curry favor with the emerging global player, the United States. The immediate impact of this diplomatic gift from Egypt’s perspective is considered. Drawing upon primary sources, including American engineer Henry Honeychurch Gorringe’s account of moving the obelisk, this chapter then delves into American attitudes toward the obelisk, Egyptians, and Egyptian cultural heritage. Like many contemporary European accounts, Gorringe’s remarks reflect a colonialist rhetoric. The growing emergence of an Indigenous Egyptian appreciation and value of antiquities and cultural heritage is also evident in these texts. The chapter then explores the arrival of the obelisk to New York City, its erection, and the subsequent celebrations, specifically a reception held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1881. New York City’s elite felt that possessing an obelisk was essential in their city’s transformation from the financial capital of a new nation to a world-class metropolis. The chapter concludes by considering the obelisk’s immediate popularity after its erection in New York City.