Flaminio Obelisk

A red granite Egyptian obelisk originally cut under Seti I and finished by Ramesses II in the 13th century BC — making it 3,300 years old. Brought to Rome from Heliopolis by Augustus in 10 BC, it first stood on the spina of the Circus Maximus before being toppled, lost, and rediscovered in 1587. Pope Sixtus V's architect Domenico Fontana re-erected it in Piazza del Popolo in 1589, aligned with the Via Flaminia gate to greet pilgrims arriving from the north.