One of the two Obelisks carved to stand at the sides of the portal of the Temple of Luxor by Ramesses II, c. 1250 BC. The western piece, 75 ft high, was “gifted” by Egypt to France in the 1830s and stands at the Place de la Concorde in Paris. The other one remains in Luxor…[1280×853] [OC]

…Both obelisks were carved from single pieces of red granite quarried in Aswan, about 100 miles south of Luxor. The eastern and western faces of each obelisk were slightly convex, the only two ancient obelisks with the feature, and the reason for this is not understood.

Both obelisks feature hieroglyphic text carved in sunken relief on all four sides. The writings on the Paris obelisk are about Ramesses II, Amun-Ra, and Horus. The Paris obelisk has a fissure in the original stone that had been tended to in antiquity.

It should be noted that when the obelisk was offered as a present, Egypt was under Ottoman rule, so, well… yeah.

It is also sort of an ironic fact that, during the French Revolution, the “Place de la Concorde” was known as the “Place de la Revolution” and the Obelisk stands right in the place where the guillotine that severed Marie Antoniette’s head -among so many others- stood…

As usual, my apologies for inaccuracies and mistakes.

What do you mean “gifted” ?