Cleopatra's Needle

Cleopatra's Needles are a trio of obelisks in London, Paris, and New York City. Each is made of red granite, stands about 21 metres (68 feet) high, weighs about 180 tons and is inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphs. They were originally erected in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis on the orders of Thutmose III, around 1450 BC. It was presented to the United Kingdom in 1819 by Mehemet Ali, the Albanian-born viceroy of Egypt.