Lateran Obelisk

The tallest standing ancient Egyptian obelisk in the world (32 metres, around 230 tonnes), originally erected at the Temple of Karnak by Pharaoh Thutmose III in the 15th century BC — older than any other artifact made by humans in Rome. It was brought to the city by Constantine II in 357 AD for the spina of the Circus Maximus, then toppled and lost. Rediscovered in three pieces in 1587, it was restored and re-erected outside St. John Lateran by Pope Sixtus V.