The Munich Obelisk in post Obelisk #22 is one of a series on ancient Egyptian Obelisks removed from Egypt. Many visitors to Munich are probably more impressed by the black obelisk in Karolinenplatz.
This was erected by 1933 by King Ludwig I to commemorate the 30,000 Bavarian soldiers who were serving under Napoleon in his 1812 invasion of Russia. Before he was King Ludwig he was Crown Prince Maximilian the son of King Maximilian I. Crown Prince Max never agreed with King Max’s decision to join the confederation of the Rhine and serve with Napoleon. Crown Prince Max was distinctly anti-French.
He brought the Egyptian Obelisk home from Paris to celebrate his victory over the French at the Battle of Nations in Leipzig and the subsequent battles that deposed Napoleon. So the Egyptian Obelisk is a celebration of triumph. He erected the black obelisk as a memorial to the fallen Bavarians who never returned home. This dichotomy between triumph and remembrance is where I am taking this thread next.
Max may have objected to the stance adopted by his father, but he served the French loyally as a commander of the Bavarians. Upon the withdrawal of Bavaria from the Confederation of the Rhine he led his men against France under the Sixth Coalition. In this capacity he had every right to both celebrate the defeat of the French and the loss of life of Bavarian soldiers under the French.
We already saw the Italians repurpose the Dogali Obelisk to commemorate the Italian troops massacred in Eritrea in 1887. What intrigues me is how the monument form initially a religious expression, evolving to a triumphal war memorial eventually became such a commonly accepted motif for rembrance of the fallen and a symbol of the futility of war.
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The Obelisk in Munich has had a very interesting journey, riding on the swells of military victory throughout its history. It also has much in common with the Obelisk of Domitian in the Piazza Navona because this too is, in a sense, a fake.
I believe that the production system for the obelisks facilitated the creation of the fakes. At Aswan the obelisks were parted from the bedrock and removed for transportation. But they were not inscribed with hierogyphs at that stage. They faced a long journey from Aswan to their destination in Karnak, or Heliopolis, or even further into the delta region of Egypt. A lot could go wrong on that journey. The obelisk could be damaged, or could sink into the Nile. The Pharaoh who commissioned it could have passed away by the time the stone reached his, or her, temple precinct. It might come down to their heir to have it inscribed. So it was a bad idea to invest time and effort into the carving of the hieroglyphs until the stone reached its erection site.
Over time I suspect a few of these obelisks became orphans. Projects that never saw resolution and sat in the back lot of a temple precinct undecorated, unloved, unvenerated and never erected. My guess is that the Obelisk of Domitian was one such stone. I think the Obelisk of Titus Sextius Africanus was another.
The titular owner was appointed a suffect Consul in the 50’s AD around the end of the reign of Claudius and the beginning of Nero‘s rule. Titus Sextius seems to have served as the de facto Governor of Egypt although that post is documented as being held by Tiberius Claudius Balbillus Modestus. In the Roman Empire it became increasingly common for post-holders to sublet their awards to hard working subordinates while they feasted on the largesse of the salary.
We know that Claudius brought a number of obelisks to Rome, including the Boboli and the Dogali. Titus Sextius Africanus may have provided this obelisk to Emperor Claudius, adding his name to the inscriptions as a reminder to the Emperor of a loyal servant seeking advancement. But if it missed the postal delivery on that occasion we know Domitian would have imported it for his Iseum in the Campus Martius, now the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome.
After the fall of Rome and the rise of the Papal States we know that some Cardinals and Popes took an avid interest in repurposing the Egyptian Obelisks. Cardinal Allesandro Albani, later Pope Clement XI was one of these Obelisk loving clerics. We met his previously at the Parthenon and in Urbino. In the 18th Century the Obelisk of Titus Sextius found its way to the Villa Albani where it was restored by the sculptor Paolo Cavaceppi.
When Napoleon conquered Rome in his Italian Campaign of 1796 to 1797 he had the obelisk removed from Villa Albani and taken to Paris where it was installed on his monument to General Desaix who died at Marengo in 1800. So Paris had an Egyptian Obelisk long before the one installed in the Place de la Concorde. The monument to General Desaix did not survive the Bourbon restoration, and it was melted down to be replaced with a monument to Louis XIV.
After the defeat of the French at the Battle of Nations in Leipzig Napoleon was exiled to Elba. It seems the Albani family were offered a restoration of the Obelisk, but were unable to afford the transportation expenses. Crown Prince Maximilian I of Bavaria stepped forward to take it as a spoil of war. Maximilian always objected to his father’s alliance with Napoleon but led the Bavarians in 1809 under Marshal Lefebvre. In 1813 Bavaria left the French allied confederation of the Rhine and to Maximilian’s delight joined the sixth coalition. He took the obelisk stolen by Napoleon to Munich in 1815, the year the Battle of Waterloo saw the final end of Napoleon in Europe.
It was installed in the Egyptian Hall of the Glyptothek, the musuem of the ancient world built by Maximilian when he became King Ludwig. That museum was heavily damaged in WW2 and was restored in the 1970s when the obelisk was erected outside. In 2013 it was installed in the modern state museum of Egyptian art.
For one of the lesser known obelisks it has had an interesting history. Taken from Egypt by the Romans as the spoils of conquest. Used by Roman Emperors to cement their legitimacy. Restored and Christianised by the Roman papacy as a form of religious imperialism. Taken to France by Napoleon as a symbol of French Imperialism. Subsequently removed to Germany by an ardent German Nationalist. In Munich it bore witness to the rise and then the fall of Adolf Hitler. Today it resides in the European Union which was established in 1957 by the Treaties of Rome leading some to envisage it as a modern reincaration of the Pax Romana.
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Lola Montez was born on this day, February 17th, 1821. Strangely enough the date on her gravestone is given as 23rd June, 1818. Why would a lady lie about her age to make herself older?
Lola Montez was her infamous stage name, from the days when she performed on stage as a “Spanish Dancer”. Her most famous act was her spider dance. This appears to have involved the pretence that she was covered in spiders, and to get rid of them she had to remove or adjust her clothes into positions that revealed the intimate areas of her body. Not classical ballet!
Lola was born in Sligo (not Limerick as she claimed). In the 1990’s the discovery of her Baptismal Certificate resolved many of the debates about her age and birth. Her mother was a respectable Anglo-Irish Cork woman, daughter of the High Sheriff of Cork. She grew up in Castle Oliver in County Limerick. Lola’s father was Ensign Edward Gilbert of the 25th Regiment. One can imagine this was a happy love affair. Gilbert was stationed in Sligo where Lola was born as Eliza Rosanna Gilbert.
Edward was then sent to India where he sadly died of Cholera. His young bride, still only 19 years old, married a Scottish Lieutenant. By all accounts Eliza was left much to her own devices and grew up as a wild Indian child. Lieutenant Craigie sent Eliza to his mother in Montrose in Scotland to be schooled, but it really did not take. There are accounts of her decorating a mans wig with flowers in chapel, and running naked through the streets on one occasion. Her Stepfather’s mother sent the wayward girl south to Sunderland, where her daugher ran a boarding school. That lasted only a year before they shipped her further south to Bath. You can see a pattern emerging here, she seems to have been something of a Problem Child.
Aged only 16 she eloped with a soldier, Lieutenant Thomas James, and he was posted to India. This may be when she manufactured a birth date that allowed her to appear older. In Calcutta Eliza and Thomas were separated 5 years later, and to make ends meet she took to the stage as a dancer. The terms of their separation did not permit Lola to remarry, She returned to London under the stage name Lola Montez. Clearly a great beauty of her day, the 22 year old Lola was pursued by a string of men who desired her favours. Unable to marry she opted to become a courtesan. When someone identified her as the former “Mrs James” London society was scandalized and she had to exit stage left.
Leaving London she toured the continent. She had an affair with pianist Franz Liszt, and was invited to the Salon of George Sand. She may have had a dalliance with Alexandre Dumas. She departed Paris after her newspaper magnate lover, Dujarrier, was challenged and killed in a duel over rivalry for her “graces”. She travelled to Bavaria where King Ludwig I fell head over heels in love with Lola. When he asked if her breasts were real she supposedly ripped off her top and exposed them to him. He was smitten.
She was appointed Countess of Landsfeld and Baroness of Rosenthal with a significant annuity providing her with a very comfortable living. She began to take an active role in the administration of the state, influencing Ludwig in his policy decisions. This was a bad mistake. She became an extremely unpopular figure with the conservative people of Bavaria. Civil disturbances led to the abdication of Ludwig in favour of his Son. Lola was forced to move to Switzerland for her safety. When it became clear that the game was up for her she moved back to Paris and then London.
A minor scandal followed involving a very young soldier with a very large… inheritance. Their marriage was blocked with an accusation of bigamy from the young soldiers concerned aunt and they ran away to France and Spain. The affair fell apart and ended with the drowning of her young soldier. Lola took ship to America. She had successful tours of the East and West Coast of the USA. She was married again in California, and again her relationship collapsed in scandal and divorce and she departed for Australia.
Australia was very up and down for her. Those in high society were scandalized while she was a massive hit with the gold diggers in the outback. Her Erotic Spider Dance was the most popular feature of her show. She left Australia under a cloud and lost her manager at sea en route to San Francisco.
Now the effects of her wayward life caught up with her. The glamour of being pursued by the glitterati of Europe and America for decades masked a dirty secret. Venereal diseases were rife in the fleshpots of the world and the beautiful Irish dancer did not escape their effects. By 1857 she was suffering the effects of third stage syphilis. She spent her final days doing rescue work for women as her own health collapsed.
She died aged only 39 and is buried in New York. On one hand she might serve as an example of how high a determined and independent woman may rise. But she also serves as a perfect example for preachers of morality. One thing is for sure, she did not live a boring life. Happy birthday Lola Montez.
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Mindship 