Best Obelisk

The Obelisk of Axum, also known as Stele 2, is a roughly 24-metre granite monument from the ancient Aksumite kingdom in Ethiopia. Carved with false doors and rows of windows, it represents a multistory building and probably marked an elite burial area. Italian forces removed it in 1937; its sections...

The Obelisk of Theodosius is an ancient Egyptian monument erected in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, now Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul. It was originally commissioned by Pharaoh Thutmose III for the temple complex at Karnak and bears hieroglyphic inscriptions celebrating his reign. Emperor Theodo...

An ancient carved granite stele at Aksum, Ethiopia, erected during the Aksumite kingdom period as a royal funerary monument; it collapsed in antiquity and remains broken on the ground.

The Lincoln Tomb is the burial monument of Abraham Lincoln in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. Dedicated in 1874, the granite structure is dominated by a tall obelisk and includes bronze sculptural groups representing branches of the United States armed services. The interior contains me...

The San Jacinto Monument is a limestone-faced concrete obelisk at the San Jacinto Battleground near Houston, Texas. Completed in 1939, it commemorates the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive 1836 engagement in which Texian forces defeated the Mexican army and secured Texas independence. The monument...

The National Monument is a Second World War memorial on Dam Square in central Amsterdam. Unveiled in 1956, it commemorates Dutch victims of the war and has become the principal setting for the Netherlands' annual Remembrance of the Dead ceremony on 4 May. The white travertine monument was designed b...

The Soldiers' National Monument stands near the center of Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Dedicated in 1869, it commemorates Union soldiers who died during the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 and were interred in the cemetery. The marble memorial combines a tall central sh...

The Sanssouci Obelisk stands near the eastern entrance to Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany. Erected in 1748 during the reign of Frederick the Great, it forms part of the architectural approach to the Sanssouci palace grounds. The monument was designed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff and bears...

The Victory Monument is an obelisk in Victory Square in central Minsk, Belarus. Completed in 1954, it commemorates Soviet soldiers and partisans who died during the conflict known in Belarus and other former Soviet republics as the Great Patriotic War. The granite monument is crowned by a Soviet sta...

The Obelisk at Karolinenplatz is a monument in Munich, Germany, erected in 1833 and designed by Leo von Klenze. Its cast-iron shaft stands on a stone base at the center of Karolinenplatz and commemorates approximately 30,000 Bavarian soldiers who died during Napoleon's 1812 campaign in Russia. The m...

The Obelisco do Ibirapuera, formally known as the Obelisk of São Paulo, is a monument and mausoleum near Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, Brazil. Completed in 1955, it commemorates participants in the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932, an armed movement opposing the provisional government of Getúlio...

The Bennington Battle Monument is a 306-foot stone obelisk in Bennington, Vermont, completed in 1891. It commemorates the Battle of Bennington, an American victory fought on August 16, 1777, during the Revolutionary War, when militia forces defeated troops serving under British command. An elevator...

The Walled Obelisk is a masonry monument at the southern end of the former Hippodrome of Constantinople, now Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul. Its present form is associated with a restoration by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII in the 10th century. The structure was once covered with gilded bron...

An 18th-century landscape obelisk at Castle Howard estate, North Yorkshire, England, designed as part of the baroque grounds by architects John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor.

The Macquarie Place Obelisk is a sandstone monument in Macquarie Place, Sydney, commissioned by Governor Lachlan Macquarie and erected in 1818. Designed by colonial architect Francis Greenway, it served as the official starting point for measuring road distances from Sydney to other locations in New...

The Saratoga Monument is a commemorative stone obelisk in Schuylerville, New York, completed in 1883. It marks the American victory in the 1777 Saratoga campaign, after which British general John Burgoyne surrendered his army, an outcome that helped persuade France to enter the Revolutionary War as...

A granite obelisk marking Thomas Jefferson's grave at Monticello, Virginia, inscribed with a self-composed epitaph naming his three proudest achievements, including authoring the Declaration of Independence.

An obelisk in Montevideo, Uruguay, erected to honor the delegates who drafted Uruguay's first constitution in 1830, commemorating the country's foundational republican charter.

The Romanov Obelisk stands in Alexander Garden beside the Moscow Kremlin. Erected in 1914, it commemorated the tercentenary of Romanov rule and originally displayed the dynasty's double-headed eagle and the names of its rulers. After the Russian Revolution, Soviet authorities removed the imperial sy...

Cape Henry Memorial is a granite cross at Cape Henry in Virginia Beach, Virginia, administered as part of Colonial National Historical Park. It commemorates the 1607 landing of the English expedition whose members erected a wooden cross before continuing inland and establishing Jamestown. The memori...

The Cowpens Battlefield Obelisk is a marble commemorative monument situated within Cowpens National Battlefield in South Carolina. It stands as a tribute to the decisive American military victory over British forces on January 17, 1781, a crucial engagement during the Southern Campaign of the Revolu...

A memorial in Arlington National Cemetery designed by sculptor Moses Ezekiel and dedicated in 1914, honoring Confederate soldiers and civilians from the American Civil War.