Standing proudly on the Victoria Embankment, the ancient granite spire known as Cleopatra's Needle is one of London's most incongruous and fascinating landmarks. Its journey from the deserts of Egypt to the heart of the British capital, however, was a saga of disaster, loss, and miraculous recovery that nearly ended on the seabed.
A Gift Forged in Battle
The obelisk's modern story begins with a diplomatic gift. In 1819, the ruler of Egypt and Sudan, Muhammad Ali, presented it to the British government. This was intended as a monument to commemorate two pivotal British victories over French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte: the Battle of the Nile in 1798 and the Battle of Alexandria in 1801.
Despite this early promise, the massive stone would not arrive on British shores for almost six decades. The logistical challenge of moving a 21-metre (69-foot), 180-tonne monument carved around 1500 BCE was immense.
The Perilous Voyage of 1877
In September 1877, a daring engineering solution set sail from Alexandria. The obelisk was sealed inside a custom-built, cigar-shaped iron cylinder named the Cleopatra. This vessel was then towed by a steamship, the Olga, beginning a long and hazardous journey across the Mediterranean and around the coast of Europe.
Disaster struck in the Bay of Biscay. A ferocious storm off the coast of France battered the vessels, forcing the crew of the Olga to make a terrible decision. To save the tug, they severed the tow ropes connecting them to the Cleopatra, setting the ancient treasure adrift. Tragically, six crew members from a rescue boat drowned in the tumultuous seas. The obelisk, and all hopes of its recovery, were believed lost.
A Miraculous Recovery and Final Homecoming
Against all odds, the story did not end there. The Cleopatra did not sink. Days later, the floating cylinder was spotted by a Spanish trawler and successfully towed into the harbour at Ferrol, Spain. Salvaged from the jaws of the Atlantic, the obelisk finally completed its epic journey, arriving in London on 21 January 1878.
Today, visitors can find this piece of ancient history a short walk from Embankment Tube station. The obelisk itself is covered in original hieroglyphics dedicated to Pharaoh Thutmose III. It is flanked by two bronze sphinxes, cast in 1881 at the Eccleston Iron Works in Pimlico, which still bear scars from a German bomb during a World War I air raid.
Its twin, gifted by Egypt to the United States, found a safer passage and now resides in New York's Central Park. London's needle, however, earned its place through a trial by water, a lasting symbol of antiquity whose very presence on the Thames is a testament to a voyage of survival.
