The Ancient Egyptian Obelisk from Luxor, Place de la Concorde, erected in 1836/37

Samantha Dodd

The night before my live presentation was when I let myself panic a bit. Up until that point, I felt oddly at ease about discussing why an Ancient Egyptian Obelisk was in the middle of Paris. That feeling quickly dwindled as I approached my presentation day. If my disdain for public speaking wasn’t enough on its own, it was definitely amplified by the fact that I would be talking in front of the actual work of art. This monument has been erected since 1250 BCE and was reused to give a new face to Paris after the French Revolution. Receiving this gift from Egypt meant so much to the new France, so I wanted to accurately communicate this during my presentation. With this notion in mind, I stayed up entirely too late going over my note cards to finalize the way I wanted to tell the Obelisk’s story.

Ancient Egyptian Obelisk, 1250 BCE, Installed in 1837, Place de la Concorde, Paris, Granite (Photo: Samantha Dodd)

 That morning I felt inevitably tired, but that feeling was quickly outshined by how incredibly nervous I got. I guess I wasn’t hiding that feeling well, because my friend that was on the trip with me, Shenny, convinced me to practice my speech on her. Doing that calmed me down, immediately. My goal was to be able to speak without reading from my cards and giving that warm-up speech allowed me to make my mistakes before I gave my actual presentation in front of the Obelisk (I feel like I need to emphasize the fact that I’m talking about the Obelisk in front of the Obelisk because that was consuming my thoughts at the time).

 

Seeing the Obelisk for the first time from the Concorde Metro Stop. March 19, 2018 (Photo: Shenny Martines)

 We were finally approaching the Place de la Concorde and I was freezing. It snowed the day before so there was still a thin layer of snow on everything, including the Obelisk. This gave my first impression of it a magical feeling. Among the buzzing cars, the abundance of tourists, and the biting wind, it stood so casually. In a way it was comforting to see it fit in so well with its surroundings, especially when I expected it to be so intimidating. Making it fit in so well was very deliberate on the part of its French installers. The Obelisk was a piece of Ancient Egyptian art that was used as the new face of France; of course it had to blend in.

A thin coating of snow can still be seen around the Place de la Concorde. (Photo: Samantha Dodd)

As I crossed the street to get to the Place, the Obelisk’s presence grew. It was genuinely so cool to see it in person after months of reading about it. I took a few minutes to take its presence in and decide where I wanted to give my presentation. I chose a spot that was in line with the Champs-Élysées because that axis line had everything to do with the placement of the Obelisk. The avenue lines up some of the most important locations for Paris: the Louvre, Concorde, the Arc de Triomphe, and La Défense. The Place de la Concorde was once the home to Louis XV’s equestrian statue that the Champs-Élysées was designed around. From that point, the statue was destroyed and replaced by the guillotine, which was also eventually replaced by the Obelisk. The 75-foot figure had a very shameful history to cover up and I believe it did so well. That is why the French decided to use something that had nothing to do with their political history, after all.

This work of art was simply impressive and the French knew it. They made sure the viewer knew this too by including a diagram of how they got the 220-ton work erect on the sides of the Obelisk, itself. (It was also highlighted in a gold, demanding your attention.)

Hieroglyphic-style diagrams showing how the Obelisk was moved to France and installed in the Place de la Concorde (Photo: Samantha Dodd)

I was incredibly satisfied with how my presentation turned out. I got to discuss a work of art that I found very underrated when it comes to its history in Paris. It was awarded to Jean-Francois Champollion back in 1831 as a thank you for deciphering the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone. The French used this as a way to cover up their shameful past with intelligence and pride.  It humbly stands representing the new France. I really enjoyed getting to share its very notable history.

 

Post-presentation smile! Whew! (Photo: Hayla May)

Sources Consulted

Allen, Douglas. "Memory and Place: Two Case Studies." Places Journal, vol. 21. 2009: 56-61

Ballon, Hilary. "Review of The Rive Droit Remodelled; Le Louvre et son quartier: 800 ans d'histoire

             architecturale; and De la place Louis XV á la place de la Concorde." in Oxford Art Journal,                 vol. 5. 1983: 50-52

Curran, Brian A. Obelisk: A History. Cambridge, 2009

D'Alton, Martina. "The New York Obelisk, or How Cleopatra's Needle Came to New York and What            Happened When it Got Here." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 50. 1993: 1-72

D’Alton, Martina. “The New York Obelisk, or How Cleopatra’s Needle Came to New York and What Happened When It Got Here.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 50. 1993: 1-72

Marrinan, Michael. Romantic Paris: Histories of a Cultural Landscape 1800-1850. Stanford, 2009

Porterfield, Todd. The Allure of Empire: Art in the Service of French Imperialism. Princeton, 1998

Rice, Howard C. Thomas Jefferson’s Paris. Princeton, 1976

Shepard, Mary B. “Egyptomania in Paris: A Scavenger Hunt.” in Blogspot, July 24, 2014. http://parisegyptomania.blogspot.com/2013/07/rosetta-answer.html