Customer Reviews

Moving the Obelisks

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book is "NEW" even though it was "as good as" ---the care your vendor took in the Packaging was truly great. It was unmarked by the handling of the postal system. I buy a lot of books and this was the best in a very long time. By the way its a great book !

This book is a charming monograph on the technology of moving obelisks, those single stone monuments that characterized ancient Egypt and are now found in major cities of the world. The story covers a lot of ground, starting with their excavation and erection at their original Egyptian sites, but the heart of the book is at the heart of the Renaissance. The Romans had moved obelisks, by land and sea, with seeming impunity, but when the Vatican wanted one moved a few hundred yards from its Roman placement to the center of the new Vatican plaza it was a challenge to European technology. A thousand years before a thousand miles was simplicity, but now a thousand feet would require an open competition at the forefront of civil engineering. It isn't much of a spoiler to say that the Vatican obelisk was moved. It stands to this day.

The story doesn't stop there. Other nations desired obelisks as symbols of their rising empire, so England sought one, as did France, and in both cases the challenge was to move them. By the time the New York City made its claim on Cleopatra's Needle, now standing in Central Park, the power was steam, the machines were steel and wire rope, and the obelisk traveled a modern city's grid. Still, it was an engineering challenge, one met by youngest empire.

It is a short book with many fascinating illustrations, including a great section on the competition for the Vatican obelisk moving contract. If you have any interest in the history of engineering and technology, or simply European history with its high points and low points, this is a fascinating book.