Cleopatra's Needle

This ancient Egyptian obelisk stands on the Victoria Embankment beside the Thames, flanked by two bronze sphinxes. Carved from red granite around 1450 BC in the reign of Thutmose III, it long predates its namesake queen and originally stood at Heliopolis. It was shipped to London in a purpose-built floating cylinder that nearly sank in a storm, costing several lives. A time capsule was sealed beneath it during erection in 1878, and shrapnel scars from a First World War air raid remain on its base.