Cleopatra's Needle

Cleopatra's needle outside the Houses of Parliament, UK, in 1878. This picture was taken shortly after the monument had been brought to England from its previous home in Alexandria, Egypt.

Name given to two ancient Egyptian granite obelisks erected at Heliopolis in the 15th century BC by Thutmose III, and removed to Alexandria by the Roman emperor Augustus in about 14 BC; they have no connection with Cleopatra's reign. One of the pair was taken to England in 1878 and erected on the Victoria Embankment in London. It is 21 m/68.5 ft high.

The other was given by the khedive of Egypt to the USA and was erected in Central Park, New York, in 1881.