Walled Obelisk

One of the three monuments of the hippodrome spina. It may look modest beside the Egyptian obelisk, but it is an intriguing example of Byzantine engineering.

The monument was clad in gilded bronze plaques depicting scenes of victory. Those plaques were stripped and melted down during the Fourth Crusade in 1204; the bare stonework you see today dates from that loss. Its most extensive recorded restoration was carried out in the 10th century by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus.

The Walled Obelisk stands at the southern end of the Hippodrome, built up from courses of cut stone. Its exact construction date is unknown; it is most likely Theodosian. Because Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus repaired it in the 10th century, it is also called the Obelisk of Constantine. Unlike the Egyptian obelisk it is not a single block of granite, and it was once sheathed in gilded bronze plaques.