The Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle)
E50926
The Obelisk, commonly known as Cleopatra's Needle, is an ancient Egyptian granite monument originally erected in Heliopolis and later transported to New York City, where it now stands as a historic landmark.
All labels observed (6)
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T256589 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle) Context triple: [Central Park, hasPart, The Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle)]
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A.
Alabaster Sphinx of Memphis
The Alabaster Sphinx of Memphis is a large, finely carved sphinx statue from ancient Egypt, likely dating to the New Kingdom, renowned for its craftsmanship and association with the former capital city of Memphis.
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B.
Pompey’s Pillar
Pompey’s Pillar is a massive Roman triumphal column in Alexandria, Egypt, and one of the city’s most famous surviving ancient monuments.
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C.
Great Sphinx of Giza
The Great Sphinx of Giza is an ancient colossal limestone statue with a lion’s body and a human head, regarded as one of Egypt’s most iconic and enigmatic monuments.
-
D.
Lighthouse of Alexandria
The Lighthouse of Alexandria was an ancient marvel of engineering and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, serving as a towering beacon for ships approaching the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt.
-
E.
Temple of Dendur
The Temple of Dendur is an ancient Egyptian sandstone temple, built by the Roman emperor Augustus around 15 BCE and now prominently displayed in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle) Target entity description: The Obelisk, commonly known as Cleopatra's Needle, is an ancient Egyptian granite monument originally erected in Heliopolis and later transported to New York City, where it now stands as a historic landmark.
-
A.
Alabaster Sphinx of Memphis
The Alabaster Sphinx of Memphis is a large, finely carved sphinx statue from ancient Egypt, likely dating to the New Kingdom, renowned for its craftsmanship and association with the former capital city of Memphis.
-
B.
Pompey’s Pillar
Pompey’s Pillar is a massive Roman triumphal column in Alexandria, Egypt, and one of the city’s most famous surviving ancient monuments.
-
C.
Great Sphinx of Giza
The Great Sphinx of Giza is an ancient colossal limestone statue with a lion’s body and a human head, regarded as one of Egypt’s most iconic and enigmatic monuments.
-
D.
Lighthouse of Alexandria
The Lighthouse of Alexandria was an ancient marvel of engineering and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, serving as a towering beacon for ships approaching the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt.
-
E.
Temple of Dendur
The Temple of Dendur is an ancient Egyptian sandstone temple, built by the Roman emperor Augustus around 15 BCE and now prominently displayed in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
ancient Egyptian obelisk
ⓘ
historic landmark ⓘ monument ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Cleopatra's Needle
ⓘ
linked to:
The Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle)
|
| associatedWith |
Cleopatra VII (by name only)
ⓘ
linked to:
Cleopatra VII
|
| category |
Ancient Egyptian monuments and memorials in the United States
ⓘ
Obelisks in New York City ⓘ Relocated monuments in the United States ⓘ |
| country |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| countryOfOrigin |
Ancient Egypt
ⓘ
linked to:
Pharaonic Egypt
|
| currentLocation | New York City ⓘ |
| dateOfOriginalErection | circa 1450 BCE ⓘ |
| dedicatedTo | Thutmose III ⓘ |
| featuresCartouchesOf |
Ramesses II
ⓘ
Thutmose III ⓘ |
| giftFrom |
Khedive Ismail Pasha
ⓘ
linked to:
Ismail Pasha
|
| giftTo |
City of New York
ⓘ
linked to:
New York City
United States ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| hasBaseMaterial | granite pedestal ⓘ |
| hasCompanionObelisksIn |
London
ⓘ
linked to:
London, England
Paris ⓘ |
| height |
about 21.2 meters
ⓘ
about 69.5 feet ⓘ |
| heritageDesignation | New York City Landmark ⓘ |
| inscriptionLanguage | Egyptian hieroglyphs ⓘ |
| locatedIn |
Central Park
ⓘ
Manhattan ⓘ |
| locatedInFrontOf | Metropolitan Museum of Art ⓘ |
| material | red granite ⓘ |
| notActuallyFromReignOf | Cleopatra VII ⓘ |
| orientation | aligned roughly east–west ⓘ |
| originalLocation | Heliopolis ⓘ |
| owner |
City of New York
ⓘ
linked to:
New York City
|
| partOf | set of three so‑called Cleopatra's Needles ⓘ |
| pharaohAtOriginalErection | Thutmose III ⓘ |
| reinscribedUnder | Ramesses II ⓘ |
| significance |
example of New Kingdom Egyptian monumental art
ⓘ
oldest man‑made object in Central Park ⓘ |
| surmountedBy | pyramidion (now missing its original metal cap) ⓘ |
| surroundedBy | bronze crabs with inscriptions ⓘ |
| touristAttraction | yes ⓘ |
| transportedTo | New York City ⓘ |
| transportMethod | by ship across the Atlantic Ocean ⓘ |
| weight | about 200 tons ⓘ |
| yearOfArrivalInNewYork | 1880 ⓘ |
| yearOfErectionInCentralPark | 1881 ⓘ |
| yearOfGift | 1877 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle) Description of subject: The Obelisk, commonly known as Cleopatra's Needle, is an ancient Egyptian granite monument originally erected in Heliopolis and later transported to New York City, where it now stands as a historic landmark.
Referenced by (10)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: The Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle)
subject linked to:
Central Park (in coordination with Central Park Conservancy)
linked to: The Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle)
linked to: The Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle)
subject linked to:
Central Park (on its eastern edge in the Upper West Side area)
linked to: The Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle)
linked to: The Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle)
subject linked to:
Central Park (New York City)
linked to: The Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle)
linked to: The Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle)