Saw this cool show last night on the History Channel about the history of moving large objects.  The Egyptians did it thousands of years ago when they moved excessively large statues of pharoahs and whatnot from place to place.  But what was really cool was when they discussed the moving of the obelisk at the center of St. Peter's Square in the Vatican (picture below).  The obelisk apparently dated to Roman times, so it must have been an important landmark or signifier between the old and the new.The story was that in the mid-1580s, they wanted to move the obelisk so many yards as they were evidently constructing the new St. Peter's (the one that we know today).  Hundreds of people submitted plans for moving the obelisk, and Pope Sixtus V chose a young man named Domenico Fontana.  Fontana constructed massive towers and a giant pulley system to hold onto the massive obelisk and put it on its side so it could be pulled to the new location (picture below).  The towers were then deconstructed and reconstructed by the new location where the obelisk was erected to its present location in St. Peter's Square.A few things interesting about this that the program mentioned.  It took a year between the time Fontana submitted his plans to the papal committee and the time the moving was complete.  When the moving towers were first built around the obelisk, the workers removed a large metal ball that had been atop the structure since the days of ancient Rome.  These workers were to do so "myth busting" of an ancient rumor that the ashes of Julius Caesare were contained in the ball.  When opened, the ball was empty. While moving the obelisk, large crowds gathered around to watch the event.  But because workers needed to hear calls and directions yelled back and forth, strict rules were in place to keep the crowd quiet.  The penalty for not being silent during the move was death; a hangman's noose hung at a nearby location as a reminder of the price for talking out of place.