---
node: spot_aswan_unfinished_obelisk
type: spot
slug: unfinished_obelisk
destination: dest_aswan
title: "Unfinished Obelisk"
lead: "The Unfinished Obelisk lies in its quarry on the southern edge of Aswan, abandoned when it cracked during cutting. Had it been raised it would have stood 42 metres and weighed 1,090 tonnes, a third larger than any obelisk ever erected."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_aswan_unfinished_obelisk.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Assuan_Unvollendeter_Obelisk_35.jpg"
image_author: "Olaf Tausch"
image_license: "CC BY 3.0"
---

## Overview

It was probably commissioned by Hatshepsut, and it is still attached to the bedrock on one side, which is precisely why it matters: the quarry shows how the work was done. Rows of dolerite pounder marks, trenches for the workers to kneel in, and the fatal fissure are all visible. Nothing else in Egypt explains the making of a monument this clearly.

## Highlights

Walk the trench along the full length; the tool marks are the exhibit. Go early or late — the granite radiates heat and there is no shade. It is a twenty-minute stop and pairs with the High Dam and Philae in one circuit.