Athanasius Kircher: Hauptwerke

The occasion for the Obeliscus Pamphilius was the transformation of Roman architecture by Giovanni Battista Pamphilii, who since 1644 as Pope Innocent X expanded the Piazza Navona with the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi created by Bernini into a new representative center. In 1649, therefore, an obelisk over 16 meters high, covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions, was erected over the Fountain of the Four Streams. Kircher was directly involved in the restoration, transportation and erection of the obelisk as a scientific advisor. His work, published a year later, takes the monument as an exemplary source for the study of Egyptian language and civilization. The work was a great success and encouraged Kircher to publish the sum of his Egyptological and religious-philosophical investigations, the Oedipus Aegyptiacus, a short time later.