 thumb|right|cleopatra's needle in new york city cleopatra's needle is the popular name for each of three ancient egyptian obelisks re-erected in london, paris, and new york city during the nineteenth century. the obelisks in london and new york are a pair, and the one in paris is also part of a pair originally from a different site in luxor, where its twin remains. although all three needles are genuine ancient egyptian obelisks, their shared nickname is a misnomer, as they have no connection with queen cleopatra vii of egypt, and were already over a thousand years old in her lifetime. the london and new york "needles" were originally made during the reign of the 18th dynasty pharaoh thutmose iii. the paris "needle" dates to the reign of 19th dynasty ramesses ii and was the first to be moved and re-erected as well as the first to acquire the nickname, "l'aiguille de clÃ©opÃ¢tre" in french. ==london/new york pair== thumb|cleopatra's needle and the plaque to erasmus wilson at its base both examples are made of red granite, stand about  high, weigh about 224 tons and are inscribed with egyptian hieroglyphs. they were originally erected in the egyptian city of heliopolis on the orders of thutmose iii, around 1450 bc. the material of which they were cut is granite, brought from the quarries of aswan, near the first cataract of the nile. the inscriptions were added about 200 years later by ramesses ii to commemorate his military victories. the obelisks were moved to alexandria and set up in the caesareum â a temple built by cleopatra in honor of mark antony or julius caesar â by the romans in 12 bc, during the reign of augustus, but were toppled some time later. this had the fortuitous effect of burying their faces and so preserving most of the hieroglyphs from the effects of weathering. ===london needle=== thumb|right|cleopatra's needle, london the london needle is in the city of westminster, on the victoria embankment near the golden jubilee bridges. it is close to the embankment underground station. it was presented to the united kingdom in 1819 by the ruler of egypt and sudan muhammad ali, in commemoration of the victories of lord nelson at the battle of the nile and sir ralph abercromby at the battle of alexandria
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