Dublin Obelisks

If you saw the early prints of Sackville Street, you notice that it was lined with obelisks. Are these what are now fronting the Hugh Lane Gallery, and in the back garden of the Rotunda?

J.

The Hugh Lane Gallery’s aren’t the originals, whatever about the Rotunda.

The Wellington Obelisk in the Phoenix (I know its spelt wrong) Park was the tallest in the world until the Washington Monument was completed. I think its now the second tallest. Quite an achievement considering the 100,000s of obelisks on the planet!

The concrete Jefferson Davis Monument, completed in 1924, is also taller:

http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/parks/wkyframes/jefdav2-body.htm

The Washington Monument is very impressive:

http://sc94.ameslab.gov/TOUR/washmon.html

Isn’t our spike simply a modern day version of the traditional obelisk??

fjp

In a word, yes.

Where did the obelisk originate from? It’s not part of classical architecture is it? I’ve never seen obelisks in Ancient Greece of Rome, but maybe thats just me…

Tey’re ancient Egyptian. A real obelisk has to be one single piece of stone, and the biggest one of those is the 105ft tall one outside the Basilica di San Giovanni in Rome. Probably the most famous are Cleopatra’s Needles in London and New York.

The twin obelisks which signify candles on either side of the granite altar in Lutyen’s remarkable Great War Memorial Park along the Liffey in Islandbridge are top of the list for me.

I see the obelisk on Killiney Hill is finally being repaired – railed off from the public more than a year ago, it has now been scaffolded and shrouded in blue. The various dashes and plasters are being torn off. Hope DLRCC do not use cement….
KB2

Here are a few links sketching the relevant information on the Roman obelisks:

http://www.initaly.com/regions/classic/obelisks.htm

http://www.romeartlover.it/Obelisks.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelisks_in_Rome

http://roma.freewebpages.org/roma-co1.htm

This link will take you to Giuseppi Vasi’s vedute of the ancient and modern monuments of Rome published in ten books from 1748 to 1781. It shows the Constantinian obelisk at San Giovanni more or less at it still is. Sixtus V, as the inscription on the pediment tells us, erected the obelisk to commemorate the baptism of the Emperor Constantine.

http://www.romeartlover.it/Vasi34.html

Ammianus’ description of the transportation of the obelisk from Alexandria is to be found in Book xvii.4.13-16:

http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/ammianus17.html