Consecration and Materiality

Bibliographic Data

ID3757953
AuthorsFiona Rose Greenland (University of Virginia, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume65
Issue1
Pages140-158
Publication date2021-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0002764218801063
OpenAlexW2898249470
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited29

This article focuses on a case of failed consecration: the Egyptian obelisk in New York's Central Park, commonly known as Cleopatra's Needle. The obelisk arrived in New York from Alexandria in 1880, with great fanfare. For a brief period, it was the talk of the town: a tourist curiosity and star of advertising campaigns for consumer goods. After an initial surge in public visibility, the monument's prominence faded. Today, the obelisk is not on the list of New York's top cultural attractions, and no longer features in media campaigns or political rallies. I ask why the obelisk's initial popularity failed to crystallize into an enduring condition of consecration. To answer this question, I use archival data to chart the obelisk's transfer of ownership and planned move, through its Central Park début and subsequent decline in cultural salience. The obelisk met key criteria associated with successful cases of retrospective consecration. What weakened the obelisk's career were lack of consecrating institutions and inherently unstable material conditions. These mechanisms are symbiotically related: because no institution took responsibility for conserving and protecting the obelisk, its granite face rapidly deteriorated and frustrated attempts to attract potential consecrating institutions. The article makes a twofold contribution to the literature on retrospective consecration. First, by discussing a failed case, it highlights the linked efficacy of consecration formation mechanisms. Second, in focusing on an ancient monument, it demonstrates the role played by materials and the specific measures of consecration that obtain in the broader sphere of ancient monuments

Archaeology · Consecration · Political science · Sociology · Archaeological Research and Protection · Classical Antiquity Studies · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · History · Law

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