DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.33567#0218
ii4
a great many strangers had also docked to Rome to witness the operation, and due precautions were
taken against disorders liable to be caused by such a gathering. A large surrounding area was fenced
offj and a proclamation pronounced a sentence of death on any one that should force his way through
the barricade ; absolute silence was also commanded under severe penalties.
Fontana first exhorted the workmen to do their duty loyally, and to pay strict attention to orders,
and recalled to them the signals to be used. At the first sound of the trumpet the capstans were to
heave round together ; the signal to stop was a stroke of a bell at the scaffolding. He then visited
every part of the enclosure to satisfy himself that all were in their proper places ; men and horses were
at the capstan-bars ; the levers, forty-four feet long, were adjusted, three on the west side and two on
the east, with ropes hanging from the ends, some of which were taken to small capstans ; the twelve
carpenters were in readiness to drive the wood and iron wedges under the obelisk, the object of these
being partly to help raise the mass, and partly to form permanent supports for the monolith as it rose
from the bronze crabs, so that the weight should at no time be borne wholly by the tackles. The
men detailed for this duty were provided with iron helmets as a protection against fragments of wood
or iron that might come tumbling from aloft.
The architect then assumed a conspicuous position whence he could be seen by all, and, speaking
in a loud voice, recalled the religious motives that prompted the transplantation of the obelisk. " The
work that we are about to undertake is in the cause of religion, and for the exaltation of the holy
cross. Implore with me the help of God, the sovereign moving power; let us ask for His help,
without which all our efforts must be in vain." And all within hearing—noblemen, citizens, priests,
strangers—fell on their knees and recited a and an A striking scene must it have been, and
typical of that curious age.
A blast of the trumpet set the capstans revolving round their spindles ; the tackles assumed the
strain, the ends of the levers descended slowly, the hammers were heard ringing against the heads of the
wedges, and the majestic shaft, heretofore leaning toward the cathedral, drew itself up to a vertical pose
amid a portentous creaking of wood and tackles. A stroke of the bell brought every thing to a stand-
still. The vibration was only caused by the compression due to lifting bodily a dead weight of three
hundred and fifty tons, and no material harm had been done. The topmost iron band was found
broken and was immediately replaced by a rope lashing held down by frappings under the heel.
Another heave was then ordered, and the obelisk left its metal supports ; the signals were repeated a
dozen times, and finally, at about four in the afternoon, it had been raised twenty-four inches. This was
announced by the firing of a small cannon, and immediately the batteries of the city responded with a
joyous salute.
An inspection of the apparatus the next day revealed the fact that most of the horizontal iron
bands were broken, twisted, or displaced; disaster had probably been averted only by Fontana's careful
foresight in rigging rope preventers. The obelisk now resting on the wedges under the corners, and
steadied by the tackles, the blocks that had supported it for fifteen centuries were removed. Two of
these gave no trouble, but the others were connected with the pedestal by long dovetailed spurs,
solidly leaded in place, and it required four days and four nights to break them out; in the end it was
only accomplished by chipping away the stone round the mortises. From a small drawing in one of
Fontana's plates, it appears that these blocks were very similar to the crabs which were found under
Cleopatra's Needle, and which are now to be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The two with spurs weighed six hundred pounds each, or about the same as those used by Pontius.
The operations still to be performed required extensive alterations in the various apparatus. The
end of the rolling cradle was introduced beneath the obelisk, between the wedges at the corners,
from right to left as viewed in the left-hand figure of Plate xxxviii. It was necessary then to change the
movable blocks of the tackles from what was to be the under side of the Needle to some other
a great many strangers had also docked to Rome to witness the operation, and due precautions were
taken against disorders liable to be caused by such a gathering. A large surrounding area was fenced
offj and a proclamation pronounced a sentence of death on any one that should force his way through
the barricade ; absolute silence was also commanded under severe penalties.
Fontana first exhorted the workmen to do their duty loyally, and to pay strict attention to orders,
and recalled to them the signals to be used. At the first sound of the trumpet the capstans were to
heave round together ; the signal to stop was a stroke of a bell at the scaffolding. He then visited
every part of the enclosure to satisfy himself that all were in their proper places ; men and horses were
at the capstan-bars ; the levers, forty-four feet long, were adjusted, three on the west side and two on
the east, with ropes hanging from the ends, some of which were taken to small capstans ; the twelve
carpenters were in readiness to drive the wood and iron wedges under the obelisk, the object of these
being partly to help raise the mass, and partly to form permanent supports for the monolith as it rose
from the bronze crabs, so that the weight should at no time be borne wholly by the tackles. The
men detailed for this duty were provided with iron helmets as a protection against fragments of wood
or iron that might come tumbling from aloft.
The architect then assumed a conspicuous position whence he could be seen by all, and, speaking
in a loud voice, recalled the religious motives that prompted the transplantation of the obelisk. " The
work that we are about to undertake is in the cause of religion, and for the exaltation of the holy
cross. Implore with me the help of God, the sovereign moving power; let us ask for His help,
without which all our efforts must be in vain." And all within hearing—noblemen, citizens, priests,
strangers—fell on their knees and recited a and an A striking scene must it have been, and
typical of that curious age.
A blast of the trumpet set the capstans revolving round their spindles ; the tackles assumed the
strain, the ends of the levers descended slowly, the hammers were heard ringing against the heads of the
wedges, and the majestic shaft, heretofore leaning toward the cathedral, drew itself up to a vertical pose
amid a portentous creaking of wood and tackles. A stroke of the bell brought every thing to a stand-
still. The vibration was only caused by the compression due to lifting bodily a dead weight of three
hundred and fifty tons, and no material harm had been done. The topmost iron band was found
broken and was immediately replaced by a rope lashing held down by frappings under the heel.
Another heave was then ordered, and the obelisk left its metal supports ; the signals were repeated a
dozen times, and finally, at about four in the afternoon, it had been raised twenty-four inches. This was
announced by the firing of a small cannon, and immediately the batteries of the city responded with a
joyous salute.
An inspection of the apparatus the next day revealed the fact that most of the horizontal iron
bands were broken, twisted, or displaced; disaster had probably been averted only by Fontana's careful
foresight in rigging rope preventers. The obelisk now resting on the wedges under the corners, and
steadied by the tackles, the blocks that had supported it for fifteen centuries were removed. Two of
these gave no trouble, but the others were connected with the pedestal by long dovetailed spurs,
solidly leaded in place, and it required four days and four nights to break them out; in the end it was
only accomplished by chipping away the stone round the mortises. From a small drawing in one of
Fontana's plates, it appears that these blocks were very similar to the crabs which were found under
Cleopatra's Needle, and which are now to be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The two with spurs weighed six hundred pounds each, or about the same as those used by Pontius.
The operations still to be performed required extensive alterations in the various apparatus. The
end of the rolling cradle was introduced beneath the obelisk, between the wedges at the corners,
from right to left as viewed in the left-hand figure of Plate xxxviii. It was necessary then to change the
movable blocks of the tackles from what was to be the under side of the Needle to some other