Most New Yorkers don’t realize it, but there is a 3,500 year old sculpture from Egypt in NYC. Situated right behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park, this ancient Egyptian obelisk has been standing there for over a century while people pass it by oblivious to its mysterious origin.
The obelisk, a symbol of the sun god Ra, is one of the two obelisks commissioned by Pharaoh Thutmose lll that stood in front of the Temple of the Sun in the city of Heliopolis in 1450 B.C. As a gesture of political alliance in the late 19th century, the government of Egypt offered one obelisk to Britain and one to the United States. Britain’s obelisk now stands in the Victoria Embankment in London, while USA kept theirs hidden in New York.
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