This photo shows the Obelisk of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The church in the background is Santa Maria sopra Minerva, originally built on the site of a former temple to Minerva... This obelisk was originally meant to decorate the Palazzo Barberini as a joke. The elephant was sculpted by Ercole Ferrata to Bernini's design. The ancient obelisk was found in the garden of the monastery of Santa Maria sopra Minerva and the monks wanted it erected in their piazza. They insisted on the enormous saddle-cloth, thinking that the gap under the elephant's abdomen would make it unstable...

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