The Rome of Obelisks

Some were brought as spoils of war, others were made here in imitation of Egyptian ones. Collapsed or demolished during the Middle Ages, the obelisks returned to Rome’s squares thanks to a Pope, who at the end of the sixteenth century gave the City a new look, also creating – as fans of Professor Langdon already know – a visual connection and a precise route between certain Churches.
Two of the thirteen now in Rome, the city with the most obelisks in the world, stand in “our” squares: Navona, home of Eitch Borromini, and Spagna, where Eitch Belsiana opened last year. Let us look at them together.

The eight Egyptian obelisks
At over thirty-two metres, the obelisk known as the ‘Lateranense’ is the tallest in the world. In red granite from Thebes, it is also the oldest, despite being the last of them to reach Rome, and – according to legend – the golden globe added to its top contains Caesar’s ashes.
The second tallest, in pink granite and without hieroglyphs, is the so-called ‘Vaticano’ – as the name suggests, it stands in St. Peter’s Square, designed by Bernini. Brought to the Eternal City in 37 CE, it is the only obelisk in Rome never to have fallen.
The third, known as the ‘Flaminio’, stands in Piazza del Popolo and was one of the first to be brought to Rome, together with the ‘Campense’, now in Montecitorio, the square of the Parliament. In front of the Quirinale, instead, stands the obelisk ‘del Mausoleo’ – in red granite from Aswan, and named after its first location, in front of the tomb of Augustus.

Finally, the last three: the ‘Macuteo’ in Piazza della Rotonda, on the fountain in front of the Pantheon; the ‘Dogali’, dedicated to the Italian soldiers who fell in the war in Eritrea and raised in front of Termini station; and the smallest of all – the ‘Minerveo’ –, less than six metres tall, placed by Bernini on the (famous) sculpture of the little elephant in Piazza “della Minerva”, behind the Pantheon.

The five Roman obelisks
The smallest, the ‘Aureliano’ or ‘del Pincio’, is one of the many tributes commissioned by Emperor Hadrian after the tragic, untimely death of his great love Antinous. In pink Egyptian granite, it was found in three pieces near the Aurelian Walls and placed on the terrace above Piazza del Popolo. The tallest, the ‘Esquilino’, was moved from the tomb of Augustus to the square of the same name, in front of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Between the two, a “hybrid” obelisk – half Egyptian and half Roman: the ‘Capitolino’, after its original position in front of the Campidoglio, or the “Matteiano”, after the noble art collector and patron of Caravaggio who received it as a gift from the Italian Senate at the end of the sixteenth century.
Finally, the obelisks of Piazza Navona and Piazza di Spagna. The first, the ‘Agonale’, a reference to the original Roman athletic stadium, is – according to legend – the reason why Bernini (who proposed placing it on the Fountain of the Four Rivers) won the competition to design the square over his rival Borromini. The second, the ‘Sallustiano’, named after the place where it was found, was engraved by copying an Egyptian inscription and appears to contain spelling mistakes.

Thirteen obelisks, thanks to five Roman Emperors, ten Popes and countless archaeologists, restorers, architects and great Artists: perfect or not, the Roman skyline would not be the same without them.