The Lateran Obelisk, from the Circus Maximus, 1833 (etching with brown wash)

Obelisque Latran du Cirque Maxime; Engraved by Pietro Fontana (1762-1837); from 'Recueil des vues au bister dessinees et lavees par Callimachus, Souvenirs d'antiquites et curiosites de Rome et des environs, Deblayements et reparations du Pape Pie VII'; Pope Pius VII (1742-1823) Papacy (1800-23) Count Barnaba Niccolo Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; Completed by Thothmes IV (14th century BC); Taken from the temple of Amun in Karnak and brought to Rome in 357 to decorate the spina of the Circus Maximus; Erected in 1588 by Pope Sixtus V, having been found in three pieces the year before; The tallest obelisk in existence; Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano; The two-tiered portico is the facade of the church of St. John Lateran, built in 1586 by Domenico Fontana (1543-1607); On the left is the Lateran Palace, also buikt by Fontana, finished in 1589;