The re-erection of the Great Fallen Aksum Obelisk, as reported in last week’s Addis Tribune, has recently been requested in his official capacity by Ato Gabru Asrat, President of Tigray. This proposal, by the head of the region concerned, deserves serious consideration. Before doing so, in this article, it may be convenient to recall the …
The struggle for the return to Ethiopia of the Aksum obelisk, looted by fascist Italy in 1937 and so far not returned, has passed through several different stages. The movement has witnessed: a petition by 500 prominent Ethiopians, among them a former Prime Minister, Lij Mikael Imru, and many leaders of culture; a petition by …
Last week we put forward for consideration the general question of the possible re-erection of the Great Fallen Obelisk at Aksum. This remarkable structure crashed to the ground in ancient times, was shattered, and consists today of six major fragments. A project for re-erecting the obelisk has recently been proposed by Ato Gebru Asrat, President …
The photograph here published will, hopefully, be one of the last ever taken of the Aksum obelisk in Rome, prior to its historic repatriation to Ethiopia. This is expected to take place by aeroplane later this year. The photograph shows surrounding poles, before the erection of scaffolding, which, we are assured, is now in place. …
Ethiopia, over the centuries, made a major impact, as we all know – or ought to know – on European, and especially Italian, consciousness. Francesco Trevisani and Marco Benefial This week we turn our attention to two notable eighteenth century Italian artists: Francesco Trevisani, or Trevisan (1650-1740 or 1746) and Marco Benefial, or Benefiale (1688-1764). …
Emperor Haile Sellassie, at the time of the Italian Fascist invasion of 1935-6, and for perhaps a decade thereafter, had a major impact on the world. His broadcasts from Addis Ababa, at the beginning of the Italian Fascist war, his desperate struggle in the face of the enemy’s overwhelming superiority in weapons – its use …
Ato Sebhatu Gebre Yesus Tesfai, Ethiopia’s pioneer gardener, was born in the Bodji Dirmaj area of Wollega in 1920. The ninth son of parents who had studied with Swedish missionaries near the port of Massawa, his father died when he was only three. Sebhatu came to Addis Ababa at the age of five and enrolled …
My previous article in these pages, on Ethiopia’s pre-war aeroplane Tsehai, currently kept in Italy’s aviation museum in violation of Article 37 of the Italian Peace Treaty of 1947 with the United Nations, has led to several repercussions, which we need not enter into at this moment. Mr. Ole G. Nordbo One repercussion, we can …
While awaiting the return of the Aksum obelisk, looted from Ethiopia in 1937 on the personal orders of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, and not yet returned in accordance with international agreements, we have perhaps time to look at another interesting question of loot, also still in Italy. This is the question of the Ethiopian …
Published by Blackwell Publishers, of Oxford, England, it forms one of their “Peoples of Africa” series. The volume, entitled “The Ethiopians”, covers the entire period of Ethiopian history from Lucy to the fall of Mengistu Haile Mariam. There are thus chapters on such subjects as “Punt, Pharaohs and Ptolemies, the Aksumite Kingdom, and the Coming …