Cleopatra's Needle, Central Park, New York

Site, Museums outside Egypt · also called Cleopatra's Needle New York, Central Park obelisk, New York obelisk, Obelisk of Thutmose III New York, Cleopatra's Needle hieroglyphics

The obelisk in Central Park was made for Thutmose III, whose names and titles run down the central column of each face. Ramesses II later added columns of his own on either side, so two kings share every face.

Point your camera at a wall

Signs to look for

Scarab beetle L1ḫpr The scarab (kheper) sits between the sun disc and the game board in Menkheperre, Thutmose III's throne name.
Ibis on a standard G26ḏḥwty The ibis of Thoth opens Thutmose, the king's birth name, 'born of Thoth'.
Bull E1kꜣ The bull opens 'strong bull', the start of both kings' Horus names at the top of the columns.
Goddess Maat C10mꜣꜥt The seated goddess with a feather (maat) is in Usermaatre, the throne name of Ramesses II in the side columns.
Three fox skins F31ms Three fox skins (mes) are in both names: Thutmose and Ramesses.

Names you can find here

The story of Cleopatra's Needle, Central Park, New York

It was cut from Aswan red granite and set up at Heliopolis, the city of the sun god, in the reign of Thutmose III. Ramesses II added his inscriptions about two hundred years later. Under Augustus the Romans moved it to Alexandria with its twin, now in London, to stand before the Caesareum, a temple begun by Cleopatra.

The Khedive of Egypt gave it to the United States in 1877. It reached New York in 1880 and was raised on Greywacke Knoll, behind the Metropolitan Museum, in January 1881. In Alexandria its broken corners had rested on four Roman bronze crabs. Copies now hold it up, and the Met keeps two of the originals, one with a Latin and Greek inscription on its claw.

A century of frost, rain and city air has worn the carving badly, most of all on the faces that take the weather. The cartouches near the top are still the clearest part. The Central Park Conservancy cleaned and consolidated the stone in 2014.

What to see and read

Central columns of Thutmose III

Each face has one column for Thutmose III, opening with his Horus name and giving his throne name Menkheperre in a cartouche.

Side columns of Ramesses II

Ramesses II flanked the old text with columns of his own titles. Look for Usermaatre Setepenre, his throne name, in the cartouches.

The bronze crabs

At the base, nineteenth-century copies of the Roman crabs that propped the shaft in Alexandria. Two originals are at the Met, often on display: check before you go.

Translation plaques

Plaques beside the obelisk, given by the film director Cecil B. DeMille, translate parts of the hieroglyphs.

Reading the hieroglyphs here

Low sun in the morning or late afternoon brings out the worn signs on the east and west faces.
The best-kept signs are high up. Zoom in from the benches on the plaza and photograph one face at a time.
Tell the two kings apart by column: the middle one is Thutmose III, the outer ones are Ramesses II.

Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.

Questions

Who made Cleopatra's Needle in Central Park?

Thutmose III had it carved and raised at Heliopolis. Ramesses II added his own inscriptions about two centuries later.

Why is it called Cleopatra's Needle?

The Romans set it up in Alexandria outside the Caesareum, a temple Cleopatra had begun. The nickname stuck, though the obelisk is about fourteen centuries older than her.

Can you still read the hieroglyphs on the Central Park obelisk?

Partly. Weathering has erased much of the lower carving, but the cartouches and many signs near the top remain readable in raking light.

Where it is

Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.