Obelisco del Quirinale

Obelisk in front of the Quirinals Palace

The Obelisco del Quirinale is a Roman obelisk. He stands in front of the Quirinal Palace on the Piazza del Quirinale .

description

The obelisk is 14.8 meters high and has no inscription. This obelisk was probably made on behalf of Domitian as a copy of an Egyptian obelisk and originally stood together with an identical counterpart, the Obelisco Esquilino , in front of the Augustus mausoleum . He was in 1781 by Pius VI. excavated and erected in front of the papal summer residence in 1786.

The obelisk is flanked by statues of the Dioscuri Castor and Pollux with their horses and crowns the Dioscuri fountain . These Roman marble groups, whose models are attributed to Phidias and Praxiteles , stood in front of the thermal baths of Constantine and were already set up under Sixtus V by Domenico Fontana on Quirinalsplatz.

See also

• List of obelisks in Rome

literature

• Klaus Bartels: Rome's speaking stones. 2nd edition, von Zabern, Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-8053-2690-4 .
• Eckart Peterich : Rome. 2nd edition, Prestel, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-7913-2043-2 .
• Cesare D'Onofrio: Gli obelischi di Roma. Rome 1967

Web links

Commons : Obelisco del Quirinale  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Roman Obelisks ( Memento from September 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
• Obelisco Quirinale (Italian)

Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 56.7 "  N , 12 ° 29 ′ 11.8"  E