Cleopatra's Needle
Cleopatra's Needle
4
3:30 PM - 4:00 AM
Monday
3:30 PM - 2:00 AM
Tuesday
3:30 PM - 2:00 AM
Wednesday
3:30 PM - 3:00 AM
Thursday
3:30 PM - 3:00 AM
Friday
3:30 PM - 4:00 AM
Saturday
3:30 PM - 4:00 AM
Sunday
3:00 PM - 2:00 AM
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The area
Address
Neighbourhood: Central Park
How to get there
- 81st St – Museum of Natural History • 8 min walk
- 86th St • 9 min walk
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.0
119 reviews
Excellent
48
Very good
50
Average
18
Poor
3
Terrible
0
Tom J
London, UK1 752 contributions
Sept 2022 • Couples
There are many things to see and do in Central Park but if history is the aim, Cleopatras Needle provides the best option! At over 3500 years old it is truly remarkable how well this artefact has stood the test of time.
A lovely spot close to the MET where you can sit on a bench and just admire the craftsmanship that it took all those years ago when this was created. The fact that the hieroglyphics are so well visible really gets the imagination racing especially considering this was created pre-Cleopatra herself!
A lovely spot close to the MET where you can sit on a bench and just admire the craftsmanship that it took all those years ago when this was created. The fact that the hieroglyphics are so well visible really gets the imagination racing especially considering this was created pre-Cleopatra herself!
Written 30 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Brendan S
Arlington, VA2 151 contributions
Jan 2023 • Solo
Cleopatra’s Needle is one of those things that is amazing in most places but is no big deal in New York City. It’s a towering obelisk that dates back 3,500 years (1,500 years before Cleopatra), was toppled in antiquity, rediscovered and gifted to NYC by the ruler of Egypt a century ago. It’s installed in Central Park in view of the Met and most of the hieroglyphic carvings covering it remain visible.
Written 19 January 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Satyabrata Dam
New Delhi1 760 contributions
Jan 2020 • Friends
Located within the Central Park, the needle can be seen from far. It's mounted upon a small hill. Up close the gigantic size of the obelisk is impressive. It's a wonder how they got it up there. Dates back to 1600BC. There's plaque below with hieroglyphics translation.
Written 30 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
therichastill
Stevenage, UK3 302 contributions
Oct 2023 • Solo
I discovered the Obelisk by accident in Central Park. When someone says Obelisk to me my first thought is to the movie - Close Encounters of the Third Kind when the large black box appears.
The one in NYC is nothing like this one. Instead it is a relic from Egypt with inscriptions on it and it stands proudly above thee surrounding greenery. If you enjoy architecture or Eyptian history it's worth checking it out.
The one in NYC is nothing like this one. Instead it is a relic from Egypt with inscriptions on it and it stands proudly above thee surrounding greenery. If you enjoy architecture or Eyptian history it's worth checking it out.
Written 6 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
therichastill
Stevenage, UK3 302 contributions
Oct 2023 • Solo
I am familiar with Cleopatra's Needle in London. This is on the banks of the River Thames. I did not know there was one in New York as well so it was an unexpected treat.
Close to the back of the museum it stands above the trees nearby and is one of the many monuments you can hunt down whilst on your visit to Central Park.
Close to the back of the museum it stands above the trees nearby and is one of the many monuments you can hunt down whilst on your visit to Central Park.
Written 6 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Lambretta101
Gourock, UK4 820 contributions
Jan 2020 • Couples
So I’m not so sure about this one. Central Park is just so so good but I didn’t quite get what the significance of the Obelisk was. Suppose I should have did a bit of research but we just stumbled across it while walking through central park to Harlem.
Written 11 August 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dorothy_NeilA
Colorado Springs, CO95 contributions
Jul 2017 • Family
We weren’t on any particular mission—just strolling through Central Park. I must admit I had no idea there was an obelisk even in New York. Learning more about her made the find that more meaningful. The ancient obelisk is lumped collectively with three others in the world, each known as Cleopatra’s Needle (one in Paris, the other in London), but it’s the one in London who is a true sister to the obelisk in New York—both being constructed at the same time sourced from the same quarry for red granite. All 68ft and 224 tons of her, these obelisks were first erected in the ancient city of Heliopolis around 1450BC. Later moved to Alexandria and then gifted to New York in the 19th Century from Egypt. Former Navy commander Henry Honychurch Gorringe was charged with sailing the monolithic offering across the sea in the hold of the steamship Dessoug. After its arrival, 32 horses were hitched in twos and it was hauled from the Hudson River, carried across a custom-built bridge, and erected right across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was manipulated into the exact direction it faced while in Alexandria. Each corner of the Obelisk’s base is supported by huge, 900lb bronze replicas of sea crabs added by the Romans around 13BC while it was still in Alexandria, so the crustaceans are ancient themselves—originals are on display not far away, in the Sackler Wing of the Met. Well worth a stroll through Central Park to find her!
Written 16 July 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
CPaM68
Texas744 contributions
Jan 2016 • Solo
The only Egyptian Obelisk in the United States is located in New York’s Central Park behind (or in the front depending on how you look at it) the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is a fantastic example of an ancient Egyptian obelisk. An obelisk is a tall four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. Obelisks were prominent in the architecture of the ancient Egyptians, who placed them in pairs at the entrance of their temples.
They were originally erected in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis on the orders of Thutmose III, around 1450 BC. 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 — a temple built by Cleopatra in honor of Mark Anthony or Julius Caesar — by the Romans in 12 BC, during the reign of Augustus.Cleopatra's Needle is the popular name for a pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks from the same original site - one re-erected in New York (in 1881) and the other in London.
The surface of the stone is heavily weathered, nearly masking the rows of Egyptian hieroglyphs engraved on all sides. Photographs taken near the time the obelisk was erected in the park show that the hieroglyphs were still quite legible and date first from Thutmosis III (1479-1425 BC) and then nearly 200 years later, Ramesses II the Great (1279-1213 BC). The stone had stood in the clear dry Egyptian air for nearly 3000 years and had undergone little weathering. In a little more than a century in the climate of New York City, pollution and acid rain have heavily pitted its surfaces
They were originally erected in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis on the orders of Thutmose III, around 1450 BC. 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 — a temple built by Cleopatra in honor of Mark Anthony or Julius Caesar — by the Romans in 12 BC, during the reign of Augustus.Cleopatra's Needle is the popular name for a pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks from the same original site - one re-erected in New York (in 1881) and the other in London.
The surface of the stone is heavily weathered, nearly masking the rows of Egyptian hieroglyphs engraved on all sides. Photographs taken near the time the obelisk was erected in the park show that the hieroglyphs were still quite legible and date first from Thutmosis III (1479-1425 BC) and then nearly 200 years later, Ramesses II the Great (1279-1213 BC). The stone had stood in the clear dry Egyptian air for nearly 3000 years and had undergone little weathering. In a little more than a century in the climate of New York City, pollution and acid rain have heavily pitted its surfaces
Written 1 December 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Luvs2TravelAnywhere
New York City, NY7 191 contributions
May 2016
How can you not love the London, Paris, and NYC Needle story?!? What a fascinating piece of history sitting right behind the MET.
Written 5 June 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
LWL3333
Wellington, FL17 965 contributions
Mar 2018 • Couples
Last week my wife and I were touring inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art and came around a corner in front of a huge window and there was the full length of Cleopatra's Needle perfectly framed in the window. I had never noticed that view before despite the many times I had previously been at this precise spot. On a nice sunny day, the view of the Needle was striking and the texture of the surface was so sharp and clear. If you are lucky enough to see this view of the Needle, be sure to look at its bottom and notice how precariously it appears to be anchored to its base. We have trouble believing that it has not blown over in the many years it has stood at this location. This is an ancient history lesson for free in the midst of Central Park.
Written 29 March 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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