Cleopatra's Needle, Ancient Egyptian obelisk in Central Park, United States

Cleopatra's Needle is a red granite obelisk about 21 metres (69 ft) tall and weighing roughly 200 tons, set on a separate lighter stone pedestal on Greywacke Knoll in Central Park, west of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its four faces are carved with columns of Egyptian hieroglyphs and small figures, now pitted by pollution.

The obelisk was commissioned around 1450 BCE for the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis and arrived in New York City in 1880 as a gift from Egypt. The journey across the Atlantic and its installation in the park marked a significant moment in 19th-century relations between the United States and Egypt.

The name "Cleopatra's Needle" is misleading, as ancient Egyptians called such obelisks "tekhenu," meaning "needles of the sun." Visitors today see hieroglyphic texts on all four sides that tell of Pharaoh Thutmose III's reign and power.

The obelisk stands on Greywacke Knoll just west of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, reached from East Drive at 81st Street. The granite base sits slightly above the surrounding lawn, and the hieroglyphs are best seen up close on the front face. The site is open whenever Central Park is open.

The obelisk's 50-ton pedestal arrived with it from Alexandria in 1880. The site on Greywacke Knoll was chosen in 1879 by Gorringe, Hurlbert and Frederic Edwin Church, partly for its elevation, so the foundations could be anchored in bedrock against any violent convulsion of nature.