NEW YORK (AP) -- An Egyptian official has chided New York City over the condition of "Cleopatra's Needle,'' an ancient column in Central Park.

Zahi Hawass of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities wrote a letter to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg complaining that his city is not taking good care of the 3,500-year-old obelisk.

Egypt gave the stone monument to the city as a gift more than a century ago. It now sits on a knoll near the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Hawass says Cleopatra's Needle is badly weathered, with the hieroglyphics worn away, and no effort has been made to conserve it.

He says that if the city doesn't act, Egypt may seek to have its gift returned.

The city Parks Department tells the New York Post that the monument is in great shape for its age. And the Met says most the damage was done in prior centuries.

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