Obelisk of Theodosius

The pink granite obelisk stands on a marble pedestal in the middle of the Sultanahmet Square, rising three times as high as the stone blocks beneath it. Emperor Theodosius the Great brought this monument from Egypt in the late fourth century to decorate his new hippodrome. Workers struggled for over thirty days to raise the massive stone into place using a complex system of bronze pulleys and beams. One of the ropes snapped during the lifting, nearly crushing the crew of spectators watching below.