just another one of those ancient egyptian artifacts taken from egypt centuries ago and plopped down in another country. as far as i know, it is the obelisk of rameses II. supposedly there are more obelisks in italy now than there are in egypt.

It is a masonic symbol that manifest you the existence of the Height of the Great Pyramid, the one represented for the Pillar. The TOP of this Pillar is the Corner Stone that was never installed at the top of Great Pyramid. The Column go to the SKY where the Egyptians supposed the Corner Stone (the Constructor) was. How you cannot support this Corner Stone in the air... you need of the Pillar a very ancient word whose really meaning is "that who support a monument", the Corner Stone of the Great Pyramid.

"Pope Sixtus V [reigned 1585-1590] directed the obelisk to be re-erected at the center of the colonnaded square". Of course, the original function of an obelisk is to be found in the Egyptian religion, and some people have elaborated on this. 1) "Name: Lateranense Pharaoh: Tuthmosis III / Tuthmosis IV Height (with base): 32.18 m (45.70 m) Location: Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano Tallest obelisk in Rome, and the largest standing ancient Egyptian obelisk in the world, weighing over 230 tons. Originally from the temple of Amun in Karnak. Brought to Rome by Constantius II in 357 to decorate the spina of the Circus Maximus. Found in three pieces in 1587, restored approximately 4 m shorter by Pope Sixtus V, and erected near the Lateran Palace and basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano in 1588 in the place of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which was moved to the Capitoline Hill." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Obelisk#Ancient_Egyptian_obelisks 2) "In 1586, the Italian engineer Domenico Fontana moved an Egyptian obelisk to its present site in front of the Vatican in St. Peter's Square. The obelisk, quarried in Egypt during the 13th century BC, was brought to Rome in the 1st century. It remained in position until Pope Sixtus V, as part of his plan to continue the construction of St. Peter's and make it one of the world's truly spectacular buildings, recommended moving the obelisk 275 yards from its original Roman site to the featured location in front of the Vatican. Fontana's plan for moving the obelisk was chosen from among hundreds of others. It relied heavily on pulleys, some as large as five feet in length, to lift the obelisk off its base and then lower it to a horizontal position by pivoting it on its lower end. Five huge levers, each 51 feet long, were used to help lift the shaft off the base. A variety of pulley blocks were required to work in conjunction with the 40 winches, each of which were powered with horses and men to supply the main lifting force. It took Fontana one year to complete the task. On September 28, 1586, the scaffolding and tower had been removed. The obelisk appeared in full view, in the same position as it appears today more than 400 years later." Source and further information: http://www.lindahall.org/events_exhib/exhibit/exhibits/civil/vatican.shtml Further information (with video in Italian): http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/genscheda.asp?appl=LIR&xsl=slideshow&lingua=ENG&chiave=101010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter's_Square 3) "One source says it has quarried at Aswan in the reign of Nebkaure Amenemhet II (B.C. 19th Century), and erected at the pylon of the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis. Another source says that although it's unknown when it was quarried but it was erected at the Julian Forum in Alexandria by the order of Octavianus (the first Roman Emperor Augustus [reigned B.C. 27 - A.D. 14]). This obelisk, like two others Esquilino Obelisk and Quirinale Obelisk, does not have the usual hieroglyphics, and no one knows where it originally came from or who created it. There are various opinions why it has no hieroglyphics; because the Egyptian Pharaoh suddenly dead, or because the Roman Emperor made it, ..... In A.D. 37 (40?), the then Roman Emperor Caligula transported it to Rome, and erected it in the Caligula Circus (later the Nero Circus (Circus Gai et Neronis), or the Vatican Circus). This site is the side of current St. Peter's Cathedral. The time elapsed ....., the then Pope Sixtus V [reigned 1585-1590] directed the obelisk to be re-erected at the center of the colonnaded square, so-called St. Peter's Square in 1586, in front of the "new" Basilica of St. Peter, which was under construction at that time. It still remains here today. Except this obelisk, all the obelisks in Rome toppled down in the Middle Ages. The Egyptologist Labib Habachi writes a reason in his book; "Legend has it that in the Vatican Circus innumerable Christians, including St. Peter, were put to death and that the reason this obelisk was not later overturned as were all the others in Rome was that it was looked upon as the last witness to the martyrdom of St. Peter." (Source: "The Obelisk of Egypt" by Labib Habachi, 1977 Charles Scribner's Sons)" Source and further information: http://members.aol.com/Sokamoto31/vaticano.htm 4) Some people point at the connection to pagan sun worship: "Here you see a view of the piazza or plaza at the Vatican, also known as St. Peter's square. The papal palace is on the right edge of the photo. The large eight-rayed sun wheel design, symbolic of Ishtar, is immediately noticeable. Look closely in the center of the wheel. What you see there is an obelisk, a genuine Egyptian obelisk shipped from Heliopolis to Rome by the Roman emperor Caligula. The obelisk is, of course, a phallic symbol,* but it also was used in sun worship." "Here is an old photo of the center of St. Peter's square, and note that around the obelisk, at the center of the huge eight-point sun wheel, is a smaller four-pointed sun wheel, the same symbol as found on the altar stone in the temple of Baal in Hatzor!" Source and further information: http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/wheel.htm "The obelisk at St Peter’s square seems to designate the star that is at the centre of the Orion ‘belt’ stars, as it were representing the Orion constellation as a whole. The same reasoning seems to be true for the obelisk at the Bernini fountain, found at the foot of the most famous hill of Rome, the Hill Capitole. In all likelihood it designates the other great constellation of relevance… the Pleiades located in Taurus." Source and further information: http://www.thehiddenrecords.com/vatican_page3.htm 5) "Immense sums, however, were spent upon public works, in carrying through the comprehensive planning that had come to fruition during his retirement, bringing water to the waterless hills in the Acqua Felice,feeding twenty-seven new fountains; laying out new arteries in Rome, which connected the great basilicas, even setting his engineer-architect Domenico Fontana to replan the Colisseum as a silk-spinning factory housing its workers. The Pope set no limit to his plans; and what he achieved in his short pontificate, carried through always at top speed, is almost incredible; the completion of the dome of St. Peter's; the loggia of Sixtus in the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano; the chapel of the Praesepe in Santa Maria Maggiore; additions or repairs to the Quirinal, Lateran and Vatican palaces; the erection of four obelisks, including that in St Peter's Square; the opening of six streets; the restoration of the aqueduct of Septimius Severus ("Acqua Felice"); the integration of the Leonine City in Rome as XIV rione (Borgo); besides numerous roads and bridges, he sweetened the city air by financing the Pontine Marshes. Good progress was made with more than 9,500 acres reclaimed and opened to agriculture and manufacture; the project was abandoned upon his death. But Sixtus V had no appreciation of antiquities, which were employed as raw material to serve his urbanistic and Christianising programs: Trajan's Column and the Column of Marcus Aurelius (at the time misidentified as the Column of Antoninus Pius) were made to serve as pedestals for the statues of SS Peter and Paul; the Minerva of the Capitol was converted into an emblem of Christian Rome; the Septizonium of Septimius Severus was demolished for its building materials." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Sixtus_V Well, maybe "Sixtus V had no appreciation of (Roman)antiquities", but he obviously liked obelisks...

Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) directed the obelisk to be re-erected at the center of the square in 1586, in front of the "new" Basilica of Saint Peter, which was being built at that time. The Egyptologist Labib Habachi gives the most accepted reason in his book, "The Obelisk of Egypt" (1977 Charles Scribner's Sons): "Legend has it that in the Vatican Circus innumerable Christians, including St. Peter, were put to death and that the reason this obelisk was not later overturned as were all the others in Rome was that it was looked upon as the last witness to the martyrdom of St. Peter." To think that this obelisk, this exact piece of stone, may have been the last thing that Saint Peter looked upon before his death while being crucified upside down is awe inspiring. http://members.aol.com/Sokamoto31/vaticano.htm With love in Christ.