There were quite a few obelisks in Karnak – and many more than at any other temple we visited. The tallest obelisks at Karnak were raised by Queen Hatshepsut. She raised two obelisks that were close to 100 feet tall and each one was made out of a single piece of pink granite. One of them still stands while the other one came down during an earthquake.

The first two photos are the large obelisk that Queen Hatshepsut raised that is, of course, still standing. The first photo is as we entered the area and the second photo was much more of a close-up.

The third photo is the second of the Queen’s obelisks, which is the one that fell down during an earthquake. In this photo, you get a better idea of how large these obelisks are when you are next to them. You can see our tour guide standing and pounding on the top of the obelisk. When she pounded on the obelisk, it made a humming sound, sort of like a giant tuning fork. She said that some people surmise that these large obelisks were not solely monuments of some sort. She said that there is speculation that they may have been used for some type of communication function or even some really far-out advanced type of function. Vicky paid more attention to this than I did. I will say that the obelisks at Karnak were quite impressive.