On April 30, 1586, to the sound of the trumpet, over 900 men and 75 horses began pulling the winch ropes to move a 25-metre-high obelisk weighing 330 tons from the left side of St. Peter's Basilica to the center of the square. It was a huge undertaking to transport the 28-metre monolith to Rome from distant Egypt – 15 centuries earlier. Positioning the obelisk was not easy even for Domenico Fontana, the architect chosen among 500 competitors, determined to complete the enterprise. During the work a creak arose from the scaffolding which groaned ominously, here, then, that the bell rang to stop the work and Fontana himself immediately inspected the obelisk, but with the exception of an iron disc everything else was in place and the work could continue.
On 26 September the obelisk was erected at the pre-established point, but for Pope Sisto V who wanted the operation, a single obelisk was not enough. He was well aware that there were many more of these stone blocks in the city, transported by the emperors from Egypt as symbols of imperial power and of the popularity enjoyed by Egyptian cults in Rome, especially that of the sun to which the obelisks were consecrated.
The last of these monoliths had been placed inside the Circus Maximus in AD 357 by the second Christian emperor - Constantius II. In the following centuries, vandals and devout Christians, eager to eradicate the symbols of paganism from the holy city, tore down all the obelisks - with the exception of the one placed in St. Peter's Square.
Eager to recreate the grandeur of ancient Rome, Sixtus V again commissioned Fontana to unearth and move the obelisk of Constantius from the rubble of the Circus Maximus to mount it in front of the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. A very demanding job for Domenico, because the Egyptian monolith had been broken into three pieces when they had knocked it down.
The sixteen obelisks of Rome continue to fascinate us, and despite their origin today they have become an important symbol of the Eternal City. Continue on MANIFESTO12
