The Unfinished Obelisk lies in an ancient granite quarry in Aswan. Had it been finished, it would have been the largest obelisk ever made, about 42 meters tall and weighing more than 1,000 tons. A crack appeared in the stone while it was being cut, and the workers abandoned it where it lies, still attached to the bedrock on one side.
What it teaches us
Because it was left half-done, it shows exactly how the Egyptians quarried their obelisks. You can see the trenches around it and the marks of the balls of dolerite, a stone harder than granite, that workers used to pound the rock away by hand. Nobody knows for sure who ordered it, but many scholars date it to the time of Hatshepsut, around 1470 BC, who raised other great obelisks at Karnak.
Visiting
The site is in the northern quarries, a short drive from the center of Aswan. A visit takes 30 to 45 minutes, with walkways around and above the obelisk. It is part of most of our Aswan day tours, usually with the High Dam and Philae.
