Paris' Obelisk First Light At The Dawn Of Time.
Sunrise on Ramses' II Luxor Obelisk Place de la Concorde.
According to ancient Egyptian religion, the universe was a lifeless, dark abyss until the sun appeared at the first dawn, the birth of the universe.
A pyramid-shaped island sprang out of the waters, on top of which the sun brought light into darkness.
This is why both obelisks and pyramids are shaped like sun rays. The sun god heralded the universe, the gods, and humans.
Obelisks were gilded, and at dawn, their tip pierced dusk by reflecting sunlight, mimicking the first morning of the creation of the universe.
All surviving obelisks in Rome or Egypt have long lost their pyramidions, which were made of electrum, a natural gold and silver alloy.
Yet, there is one site where one can wonder about the phenomenon: Paris, Place de la Concorde.
In this two-part story, we first wonder about Paris' obelisk and then explain what obelisks are.
Catching the first light of the creation of the world
I woke up before dawn and braved the freezing winds to witness the moment of creation when the sun's rays hit the golden tip of the obelisk.
Waiting for the sunrise, all I had to do was imagine that the Seine was the Nile.
The palm trees that had been put on the square helped create the atmosphere that I was in Egypt millennia ago, about to witness the creation of the universe.
It was not as bright as I had hoped. The effect likely worked better in Ramses II's time without modern city pollution.
I shared photos with a good friend in Luxor. Both of us were freezing, and similar honking traffic sounds were in the background. It felt like virtually linking the twin obelisks.
Paris' obelisk is also a giant sundial
The obelisk is one of the world's largest sundials, with markers on the ground of Place de la Concorde.
Now, you may wonder how an Egyptian obelisk ended in Paris.
How come Ramses II's obelisk found its way to Paris?
As we will see in the second part of the story, the ancient Egyptians only needed seven months to carve two obelisks, each weighing 320 tons.
They transported them 150 miles away to Karnak, in Luxor.
Once Rome took over Egypt, the Empire carried many obelisks down the Nile and across the Mediterranean to Rome.
Between the fall of Rome and the 1800s, no one had tried to repeat the feat of hauling obelisks across the sea.
By the 1820s, the Egyptian ruler was keen to have European powers helping to modernize the country.
What better way to entice them than by offering ancient treasures?
Champollion, the decipherer of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, visited Egypt and suggested the two obelisks of the Luxor temple.
So, in 1830, Mohamed Ali offered them both to France. Accepting them in one thing and transporting them to France another, as there was the small matter of ferrying a 230-ton obelisk.
The journey from Luxor to Paris
Seven years passed between the offer and when the obelisk was raised at Place de la Concorde.
Imagine this: build a bespoke boat named ‘the Luxor’ in France. Sail to Egypt, then up the Nile to the city of Luxor.
Once there, beach the boat by the temple. You still have to dig out the obelisk (see the previous photo of the temple today; the accumulation of silt reached the shoulders of the colossal statues).
Open the boat's hull and push a 230-ton stone inside.
Sail down the Nile, through the Delta, the Mediterranean, along the Atlantic coastline—pulled by a second boat named 'the Sphinx'—and then up the Seine River.
It is not difficult to understand why no one ever thought of trying to get the second one.
Consider, for a minute, the seven months it took to carve an obelisk for Pharaoh Hatshepsut and the seven years needed to bring another to Paris using a steamboat.
Ramses II came to visit Paris in 1976
On the internet, one can find a false story about Ramses' passport. The truth is more interesting: since Ramses' mummy was unwrapped in the 1880s, fungi slowly attacked the mummified King.
Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, director of the Louvre Egyptian department, was instrumental in saving the Nubian temples and Ramses' mummy.
She helped convince Egyptian leaders to send Ramses to Paris to find a solution to help him on his journey through eternity.
He was indeed flown with the honor befitting a King: the Republican Guard and a state minister waited for him at the airport.
Desroches-Noblecourt insisted that Ramses be driven to Place de la Concorde, circling the square so the Pharaoh could admire the obelisk he had commissioned 3,000 years earlier.
A Moment of Wonder hiding in plain view
As a Parisian with a profound interest in ancient Egypt, I always find it mildly amusing to realize that almost no one pays attention to the oldest monument in Paris.
It's not like it's small and hidden away.
Now, our Moment of Wonder: in the Egyptian language, Ramses means 'Born from Ra,' the sun god.
When Ramses was in Paris, scientists discovered that the solution to being eaten by bacteria and fungi was to spend twelve hours inside a nuclear reactor.
In that reactor, Ramses was irradiated by gamma rays.
I cannot vouch for the fact that Ramses did glow in the dark coming out of the reactor, but, gamma rays are among the energy emitted by our sun.
Over three thousand years ago, the sun's rays irradiated the North of Egypt when a baby named Ramses was born.
In 1977, the very same energy revived him a second time, just outside Paris.
And in the center of Place de la Concorde, the text carved into the obelisk states that Ramses is:
Son of the sun,
Loved by the sun,
Invigorated by the sun.
Every sentence ends with
Given life, for eternity.
Every morning, when the sun reflects on the obelisk Place de la Concorde, 2,000 miles away, Ramses is revived, like the sun, and given life, for eternity.
Quite a Moment of Wonder.
Part II will be ‘Travel to ancient Egypt to the City of the Sun.’
This little journey illustrates the sense of wonder one gets with the private tours of Egypt that I organize with my Egyptian friends.
To get an idea of what it feels like, here's feedback:
Guillaume, Saber and Saleem did a professional and wonderful job from pick up at airport to drop off at cruise, their knowledge on the ground of the history and what we experienced was paramount and the local knowledge of when and where to be to avoid crowds invaluable in the seamless planning and experience.
I am so impressed with this group I already have 2 or 3 close friends and family I will be meeting in coming weeks wanting to know what our trip was like and to do the same, I think the personalised service and the planning was excellent.
Thank you all was a wonderful experience and hope to be back. Can not speak more highly of this group.
I had very high expectations due to the time spent planning the trip and overall cost and will state that both Jane and my expectations where not only met but surpassed.
Again cannot say enough great things about something I waited so long to do and sometimes in these situations your expectations are not met because you have had so much time dreaming, again my expectations met and exceeded, worth every cent and the most disappointing part was flying home.
Find out more online: Art Journey Egypt
This is fascinating. I’ve never been able to get up and close because of swirling cars in the round about. You came at a perfect time!