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Re-erection
of Axum obelisk to be inaugurated
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 ADDIS
ABEBA(August 14,2008)
- The inauguration of re-erection of Axum Obelisk which
stayed in Italy for 70 years will be colorfully celebrated in Axum
town in Tigray regional State. Over 30 Italian delegations are expected
to attend the ceremony on September 04, 2008.
Apart from encouraging the return of illegally possessed heritages,
the re-erection inaugural event reflects Africa's early architectural
civilization, Ambassador Mohamed Dirir, Culture and Tourism Minister,
Seyoum Bereded, Ethiopian Millennium Secretariat Director and Jara
Hailemariam, General Manager for Research and Conservation of Cultural
Heritage underlined in a joint press conference held on Tuesday.
Ambassador Mohamed appreciated the Italian government for its efforts
to cooperate in returning the monument to its mother land, and especially
for covering the 4 million USD cost of transportation and re-erection
of the obelisk.
Over 1,000 invited guests including higher governmental officials,
delegates and international media personnel will be attending the
ceremony.
The effort done to return the monument and the obtaining result encourage
the country to accelerate returning the rest heritages and also play
vital roles of increasing the tourism sector as well, it was pointed
out.
The first phase of the re-erection of the obelisk got completed on
July 11, 2008 while that of the second part launched after about fortnight
later finalized within three days.
Re-erection of the second part of the Obelisk which was the longest
and heaviest of the three broken parts of the obelisk was finalized
at the end of last month.
The obelisk is the second largest one on the Axum World Heritage site
in Ethiopia.
Transported to Rome by the troops of Mussolini in 1937, it was returned
by the Italian government in April 2005. Weighing 150 tons and 24
meters high, the obelisk was cut into three pieces and transported
by Antonov airplanes to north Ethiopia's Axum town.
The obelisk is around 1,700 years old and has become a symbol of the
Ethiopian people's identity.
The ruins of the ancient city of Axum mark the location of the Kingdom
of Axum, the most powerful state between the Eastern Roman Empire
and Persia.
The massive ruins of Axum date from between the 1st and the 13th century
A.D. The monolithic stelae were erected during the third and fourth
centuries A.D. as funerary markers for deceased members of its elite.
Axum was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1980. |
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