# Vatican Obelisk Moved (10 September 1586)

URL: https://allhistories.com/vatican/timeline/1586-vatican-obelisk-moved
Location: St Peter's Square, Vatican
Themes: Key Events

The Vatican obelisk, a red granite monolith about 25.5 metres high and weighing more than 300 tonnes, was brought from Egypt to Rome by the emperor Caligula in 37 and set up on the spine of the circus later associated with Nero, where tradition held that St Peter was martyred. It was the only obelisk in Rome never to have fallen, and it stood beside the south flank of St Peter's Basilica. Earlier popes had considered moving it but none had dared. Sixtus V held a competition and chose the engineer Domenico Fontana. The operation took months and was a sensation across Europe. On 30 April 1586 the obelisk was lowered using a huge wooden tower, 44 winches, some 900 men and 140 horses, working in silence under penalty of death. It was then transported about 250 metres on rollers to the centre of the area in front of the basilica, and on 10 September 1586 it was raised on its new pedestal. A legend tells of a sailor named Bresca who shouted "water on the ropes" to save them from fraying. On 26 September it was consecrated and topped with a cross. The obelisk became the focal point of St Peter's Square, around which Gian Lorenzo Bernini later designed his colonnade. Fontana's achievement was celebrated as an engineering triumph and inspired Sixtus V to erect further obelisks across Rome.

## Why it matters
Moving the obelisk created the centrepiece of St Peter's Square and was one of the great engineering feats of the Renaissance.

Pope at the Time: [Pope Sixtus V](https://allhistories.com/vatican/popes/pope-sixtus-v)

Cardinal-nephew (Superintendent of the Ecclesiastical State): Alessandro Peretti di Montalto
Cardinal Secretary of State: Decio Azzolini (seniore)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Vatican obelisk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_obelisk)
- [Vatican City State](https://www.vaticanstate.va/)
- [Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent)](https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/)
- [Wikipedia — Counter-Reformation (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Reformation)