Many of the temples in Egypt have great needles made of granite that rise to the sky and shaped like a pyramid on top. They are made of one solid piece of Granite and the one in the photograph above was made of Pink Granite. The main source of Pink Granite in Egypt is Aswan which is located which is about 220km. With these obelisks being cut out of the granite, an example is the unfinished obelisk in Aswan, and floated down the Nile to Luxor must have been an absolute feat. Then to get them into an upright position is amazing to think how this was achieved.
The Hieroglyphics and Cartouches on the Obelisk tell a story. and the top of the obelisk was normally coated with a highly reflective metal like gold to allow the suns rays to be reflected. Unfortunately there is no gold on them now.
For more information on Luxor Temple