Egyptian Obelisks

"The obelisk symbolized the sun god Ra, and during the brief religious reformation of Akhenaten was said to be a petrified ray of the Aten, the sundisk. It was also thought that the god existed within the structure."
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"Rome is the obelisk capital of the world. The most prominent is the 25.5 m/83.6 ft high 331 ton obelisk at Saint Peter's Square in Rome.  The obelisk had stood since AD 37 on its site on the wall of the Circus of Nero, flanking St Peter's Basilica".

"Re-erecting the obelisk had daunted even Michelangelo, but Sixtus V was determined to erect it in front of St Peter's (1586), of which the nave was yet to be built. He had a full-sized wooden mock-up erected within months of his election. Domenico Fontana, the assistant of Giacomo Della Porta in the Basilica's construction, presented the Pope with a little model crane of wood and a heavy little obelisk of lead, which Sixtus himself was able to raise by turning a little winch with his finger. Fontana was given the project."

View of Rome from the dome of St. Peter's Basilica




http://www.egipto.com/obeliscos/obeliskindex.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelisk