14/07/2024
The story of an Egyptian obelisk in front of which France celebrates its National Day every year
Luxor Obelisk in Concorde
France celebrates its National Day on July 14 of each year, an occasion that coincides with the storming of the Bastille prison and the rise of the French Revolution against the monarchy in 1789. Official celebrations and military parades are held in the presence of the head of state in the Place de la Concorde in the capital, Paris, in front of an ancient Egyptian obelisk, which is the Temple Obelisk. Luxor, which is a witness to many French political activities from the nineteenth century until now, especially the annual celebration of the country’s National Day, so what is the story of this obelisk?
On November 29, 1830, Egypt presented a special gift to France, as an expression of good understanding and warm relations between the two countries. Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769-1849), the ruler of Egypt at the time, presented the Luxor Obelisk to the King of France, Louis Philippe I (1773). -1850).
This gift, which came in honor of the efforts of the French scientist Jean-François Champollion (1790-1832) in knowing the secrets of ancient Egyptian writing, still adorns the Place de la Concorde in the heart of the French capital, Paris, until now.
The Luxor Obelisk is considered the oldest historical monument on the land of Paris, testifying to a “French passion” for the civilization of ancient Egypt, after it was uprooted from the roots of its temple in the city of Luxor, southern Egypt, and was installed in the Place de la Concorde during the nineteenth century. It became a witness to many conflicts and political and national events of the French Republic until Now in an environment completely different from its original environment.
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The obelisk dates back to the era of King Ramesses II, the most famous king of the 19th Dynasty according to the division of ancient Egyptian history, who ordered the construction of two obelisks in front of the Luxor Temple in commemoration of his victories in military campaigns that protected the land of Egypt from foreign attacks and the appropriation of its property.
Scholars of the history of ancient Egypt differed in determining the religious significance of the construction of these stone blocks with four sides and a pyramidal top, “hurrem”, which are erected on a base on which a memorial text is recorded for the king and the god to whom it was dedicated.
Some agreed that it symbolizes the falling rays of the sun from the sky, represented in the form of the pyramid, while others believe that the pyramid plays the same role as the pyramid as a symbol of the “eternal hill” on which the process of creating the universe began, according to religious belief in ancient Egypt.
The book “Description of Egypt,” written by the French after their return from their military campaign against Egypt (1798-1801), contributed to increasing the French passion for the civilization of ancient Egypt, especially after recording thousands of pictures of extremely huge edifices that the world saw for the first time, filled with incomprehensible texts until Champollion discovered the secrets of those. Ancient Egyptian texts.
Champollion's choice and contradiction
Champollion arrived in Egypt at the head of a scientific mission aimed at reviewing the validity of his approach to reading hieroglyphic texts
Interest in the antiquities of Egypt increased in that era, which encouraged Muhammad Ali Pasha to use ancient Egyptian antiquities as a political tool that served his interests, taking advantage of the struggle between the two superpowers at the time, England and France, over the two “Cleopatra” obelisks in Alexandria. He gifted the two obelisks to them in exchange for their support and to strengthen his political position before the Sultan. Ottoman.
Champollion arrived in Egypt in August 1828, and set foot in Alexandria at the head of a scientific mission aimed at reviewing the validity of his approach to reading ancient Egyptian “hieroglyphic” texts, in addition to examining the two “Cleopatra” obelisks. It was found that they were not related to the queen, but rather were erected by the king. Thutmose III in the 15th century BC placed them in the Temple of the Sun in the ancient city of Heliopolis. Then the Ptolemies transported them to Alexandria 13 centuries later, and they were mistakenly called the “Cleopatra” obelisks.
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When Champollion visited the Temple of Luxor in southern Egypt, he was impressed by his two obelisks, as evidenced by a letter he sent to his brother Jacques-Joseph, dated November 24, 1828, included in “Letters and Diaries during a Trip to Egypt,” the French version compiled by historian Hermine Hartleben (1846-1919):
Champollion says: “I saw the gigantic Luxor Palace, in front of which stood two obelisks, each 80 feet high (about 24 meters), carefully carved from a single block of pink granite, as well as four huge statues of Rameses the Great, also made of pink granite.”
Champollion adds: “My tongue is unable to describe one out of a thousand things that must be described when exposed to such things. People will either think I am full of enthusiasm or a crazy idiot if I succeed in giving an image, even a pale and meager one... I admit that in Europe we are nothing but dwarfs, and that “There is no people, ancient or modern, that has reached an understanding and perception of the art of architecture to such a high degree as the ancient Egyptians.”
Muhammad Ali Pasha
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In the face of this magic and admiration, Champollion backed down from the idea of receiving the Cleopatra obelisks, a gift from Muhammad Ali, as he said in his letter to his brother dated July 4, 1829: “I feel pity and pity for them ever since I saw the Theban (Luxor) obelisks. If it is inevitable that an Egyptian obelisk be transferred. To Paris, let it be one of the two obelisks of the Luxor Temple, and the ancient city of Thebes will find solace in preserving the Karnak Obelisk, which is considered the most magnificent of all obelisks.”
Champollion's position sparked controversy among historians, especially since he repeatedly requested that Egypt's antiquities be preserved and not violated, including a memorandum he submitted to Muhammad Ali in this regard under the title “A Memorandum Delivered to the Governor of Egypt.”“The Concern of Preserving and Preserving Ancient Egyptian Antiquities,” from which we quote this excerpt:
“The whole of Europe will owe a debt of gratitude to His Highness the King (Muhammad Ali Pasha) if he would take effective measures aimed at preserving the temples, palaces, tombs and all other monuments that still bear witness to the greatness and power of ancient Egypt, and which are at the same time the most magnificent adornment of modern Egypt.”
Champollion adds in his memorandum: “In order to achieve this goal, His Majesty the King may order not to uproot, under any circumstances, any stones or bricks, inscribed or uninscribed, from ancient buildings and monuments that still stand on sites whether in Egypt or Nubia.” .
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The French historian Robert Soulet, in his special study “The Great Journey of the Obelisk,” defends Champollion, saying: “(Champollion) was not among the foreigners who were plundering Egyptian heritage for the purpose of profit. Rather, he aimed to place those artifacts in a safe place so that scholars could It is studied and enjoyed by the European public.”
As for Champollion himself, he expressed his goal for this in the text of his letter to his brother dated July 4, 1829, saying: “It will be a great opportunity to display a monument of such splendor in France instead of the trivial things and cheap decorations that we proudly call national monuments, which are suitable "Hardly to decorate small salons."
He added: "A mass like that majestic obelisk alone is enough to greatly influence the minds and eyes. Just as one of the Karnak columns alone is more monumental than the four facades of the Louvre Museum's courtyard."
An arduous adventure
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How was the obelisk, a stone block weighing 230 tons, transported from Luxor to Paris?
Champollion ruled out the idea of cutting the obelisk and described it as “sacrilege,” especially since the Romans had succeeded in the fourth century AD before France in transporting an obelisk from the Temple of Karnak, across the Mediterranean, and installed it in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
For this purpose, France built a flat-bottomed ship that could travel in the waters of seas and rivers, to avoid multiple transfers of the obelisk from one ship to another, and called it “Luxor.” The ship sailed from the port of Toulon on April 15, 1831, with a crew of 150 people from various professions on board. And the crafts, all under the leadership of the French engineer Apollinaire Leba.
The crew arrived in Luxor on August 14, and began work, then stopped due to the outbreak of cholera, which infected 15 Frenchmen and caused the death of 128 Egyptians.
Raymond de Fernanc Saint-Maur, leader of the expedition to transport the Luxor Obelisk to Paris, described in his memoirs and notes entitled “The Voyage of the Luxor Ship in Egypt,” which he published in Paris in 1835, the scene of these Egyptians, saying: “The poor peasants who were struck by the cholera epidemic had no drink.” Nothing but the water of the Nile and no bed but the earth, and yet not a single cry or complaint arose from them. From them one learns that contempt for life exists more in the open than in the books of philosophers.”
Image caption: A painting of the Luxor Obelisk in Place de la Concorde
The obelisk was not severed from its base before October 31, and Vernac wrote to Champollion:
"Rejoice with us, my lord citizen. The cholera has left us, and the Western Obelisk at Luxor has yielded to the simplest modern mechanical means. We have at last captured it, and it is certain that we will bring to France this monument which must furnish you with material for your pleasant lessons."
He adds: "Paris will witness what an ancient civilization did in order to preserve history in the absence of a printing press. Paris will see that if our arts are amazing, other peoples created arts long before us whose amazing results still amaze us today."
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Moving the obelisk required negotiations with the people to buy their homes, demolish them in order to make way, and transport it on wooden rails with the help of 400 hired workers until it was placed on board the ship at the end of December.
After sailing, the ship encountered difficulties and was forced to dock again in the city of Rosetta, in northern Egypt, due to its inability to cross the waters of the Nile to the Mediterranean Sea. So it sought the help of one of the first French steamships of the era, called the “Sphinx,” and towed the “Luxor” ship in the middle of a turbulent sea. For two days, the ship threatened to sink, the crew would be destroyed, and the obelisk would be lost at the bottom of the sea, as Vernenac described in his memoirs.
The ship arrived at the port of Toulon on May 10, 1833, crossed the mouth of the Seine River and arrived in Paris on December 23 after an arduous journey.
Rifa'a Al-Tahtawi objects
Image caption: A painting of the Luxor Temple after the western obelisk was taken and transported to France (the painting was by the Scottish painter David Roberts in 1845)
Rifa’a al-Tahtawi (1801-1873), the pioneer of the intellectual enlightenment movement in Egypt during the nineteenth century, was the first to object to the transfer of the obelisk after his return from his scientific mission in Paris. He saw the move as a waste of national wealth and recorded his objection clearly, as stated in his book “Takhlis al-Ibriz.” To the summary of Paris or the precious collection by Iwan Paris” (we quote this excerpt from it without interfering with the text of its author).
Al-Tahtawi said: “Egypt has now taken on the means of civilization and learning in the same manner as the countries of Europe. It is more deserving and deserving of what its predecessors left to it of the types of adornment and industry. And taking away something from it, little after little, is considered by wise people to be embezzling other people’s jewelry for the sake of displaying it. It is more like usurpation, and proving this does not need to be proven.” To proof."
The French poet Petrus Borel also objected in 1833 and said in a strongly worded statement addressing the French government, which Soulet included in his study: “Can’t you leave every region and every climate preserving its glory and its decoration?”
He added: “Nothing has value unless it is in its own place, in the middle of its land, in its birthplace, and under the shade of its sky. There is a mutual connection and intimate harmony between the monuments and the countries that built them. There must beEgyptian obelisks are juxtaposed with temple columns
Comment on the image: The obelisk was placed in the middle of the Place de la Concorde, on October 25, 1836, with the help of about 420 soldiers to lift it into place. (The painting is by the French painter François Dubois)
Champollion wanted to place the obelisk in the square of the Louvre Museum or in front of the Madeleine Church, but King Louis-Philippe I wanted it to be erected in the Place de la Concorde. Champollion insisted on his opinion, considering the Place de la Concorde to reduce the prestige of the obelisk. This was the cause of bad relations between them, and Champollion died. Without achieving his request.
France was forced to make a new base for the obelisk from granite extracted from the Brittany region in northwestern France, due to the original base being left in Luxor due to its poor condition. Engineer “Louba” hired about 420 French soldiers to raise the obelisk in the field. Loba described the seriousness of the mission in his memoirs entitled “The Luxor Obelisk.” Issued in Paris in 1839.
“Misunderstanding of an order, a bad strap, or a crooked nail could have led to a terrible disaster,” Luba said. “If the crane fell, the obelisk would be destroyed, millions of francs would be lost, and more than a hundred workers would undoubtedly be crushed.”
Finally, an audience estimated at about 200,000 people gathered on October 25, 1836 in the square, and an orchestra consisting of one hundred musicians stood at the corner of Saint-Florentin Street, playing Mozart’s piece “The Hidden Secrets of Isis.” The following lines were written on the base of the obelisk: “ In the presence of King Louis-Philippe I, this obelisk was transported from Luxor to France, and was erected on this base under the supervision of engineer Loba, amid the applause of a crowd of people.
The king also dedicated the obelisk to commemorate the successes of the army of the republic, but in a phrase in Latin, not French, that did not mention the original maker of the obelisk, King Ramesses II, and the one who chose the obelisk, Champollion. Its editing was entrusted to the Academy of Manuscripts and Letters and it was translated into French by Alain Bagasse. The two texts were mentioned in Jean Vidal's study entitled "The Absent from the Obelisk".
The text says: “The King of the French, wishing to transmit to subsequent generations one of the pinnacles of Egyptian art, as well as the wonderful memory of one of the glorious deeds recently accomplished by arms on the banks of the Nile. This obelisk, given to France, was raised from Egypt itself, and was removed from the tombs of Thebes on August 25. 1832 and was transported to France on a ship built for this purpose during a voyage that lasted 13 months and was established here on October 25, 1836, the seventh year of his rule.
The influence of the obelisk on French poetry
The Egyptian Obelisk remained a source of inspiration and passion for Egyptian civilization, and it fascinated the French romantic poet Théophile Gautier, so he composed a long poem for it entitled “Nostalgia for Obelisks” in his collection “Ceramics and Cameo Stones” in 1851, creating a dialogue between the obelisk in Paris and its sister in Luxor, each complaining to the other. The pain of loneliness, like these excerpts:
“I feel bored in the middle of this square, an obelisk that is not in harmony with the place. Snow, drops of frozen fog, drizzle, and rain ice my forehead... I am the one who, with my great stature, was able to defy time, and one day Ramesses stood in front of me like a straw. I became an entertainment tool in Paris... the Seine River, which... Street drains pour into it. This dirty river made up of streams pollutes my feet, which the Nile, the father of rivers, used to kiss with every flood.”
Her sister from Luxor also addresses her complaining:
“I stay up at night, a lone guardian of this great, ruined palace, in that eternal solitude in front of a vast space, on a horizon bounded by nothing, under a cloudy sun. The wide, silent desert endlessly spreads its yellow shroud before me... The wind here never wipes away the tears of a dried eye. He leans back.” Weary time lies on the walls of static palaces. There is nothing to shake the face of eternity. In this changing world, Egypt sits on the throne of stillness.”
Witness the events
France has always celebrated its national occasions in Place de la Concorde, so the obelisk was destined to bear witness to major events up to our time, including:
December 1840, the public waits in the Place de la Concorde for the remains of Bonaparte. The funeral carriage stops in front of the obelisk and then heads to the Place de la Invalides to bury the remains.
In April 1846, Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Muhammad Ali, visited Paris for treatment and to contemplate the obelisk. Five months later, France presented Egypt with a Western-style clock decorating the Muhammad Ali Mosque in Cairo, as a thank you from France to the governor for the gift of the obelisk.
February 1848, clashes occur between the masses and the royal knights around the obelisk, Louis-Philippe abdicates the throne, and his name is temporarily erased from the base of the obelisk.
November 1848, the French celebrate in front of the obelisk the constitution drawn up by the National Assembly (Parliament).
On July 14 of every year, the French Republic celebrates its national holiday, “Bastille Day,” and military and air shows are held in front of the obelisk.
Golden top
The golden top of the Luxor Obelisk
Christiane Deroche-Boublecourt, a scholar of ancient Egyptian history, suggested placing a golden pyramid on top of the obelisk.
In the 1970s, as she reported in her study “Under the Eyes of the Gods,” the prominent ancient Egyptian scholar Christiane Deroche-Poublecourt (1913-2011) proposed placing a golden pyramid atop the obelisk, and supporters and opponents debated for years.
Noblecourt renewed its demand in 1998 during the reign of French President Jacques Chirac (1932-2019) on the occasion of the celebration of the bicentenary of Bonaparte’s military campaign in Egypt, and said that its idea “will preserve the obelisk and give it an aesthetic and symbolic form.”
Noblecourt took advantage, as she said in her study, of the visit of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (1928-2020) to Paris as an occasion to place the golden pyramid, and she said: “I was confident that if the pyramid had not been placed on this occasion, it would never have happened, so I wrote to President Chirac.” ".
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A gilded banner was placed next to the base of the obelisk commemorating the event and honoring Jean-François Champollion, whose name has not been mentioned on it since it was placed on Place de la Concorde in 1836.
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