Luxor Obelisk in Paris is Getting a Makeover

The famous 3,300-year-old Luxor Obelisk at the heart of the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France is being restored to its original grandeur. Erected in 1836, at 23 metres high and 222 tonnes, the Obelisk is one of Paris’s oldest and tallest monuments. 

The glow-up corresponds with the 200-year anniversary of the Rosetta Stone translation by Jean-Francois Champollion. 

The restoration will involve the installation of a protective cover, designed by Beaux-Arts Alumni Jonathan Sobel, which would feature a collection of his artwork.  It will also include a deep cleaning of the pollution-ridden exterior which has been piling up for decades, clearing it to make way for its ancient Egyptian iconography. The golden cap that was added in 1988 will also receive a well-deserved polish.