Cyber Ethiopia

The story of the Aksum Obelisk looted by Fascist Italy in 1937, and not returned in accordance with the Italian Peace Treaty of 1947 and the bilateral Ethio-Italian Obelisk agreement of 1997, has many chapters. Ato Aklilu Habtewold We turn today to events related to the Obelisk, which took place in the year 1971, i.e. a little over 31 years ago. On the first of the Ethiopian month of Sane, of that year, the then Ethiopian Prime Minister, Ato Aklilu Habtewold, issued an order No. 2049-B30-10, instructing Ato Kidanewold Gheorgis, of the Ethiopian Ministry of Public Works and Water Resources, to go to Rome to examine the state of the Obelisk, which should have been returned to Ethiopia almost a quarter of a century earlier, in accordance

with the Italian Peace Treaty, signed with the United Nations in 1947. A Dedicated Official Ato Kidanewold duly flew from Addis Ababa airport on 26 Sane, at 7.15a.m., and arrived in Rome at 2.45p.m. Though the Obelisk story was by then, as we have seen, over two decades old Ato Kidanewold was a dedicated official. Not wishing to waste any time, he called on the following day at the Ethiopian Embassy, and met the Ethiopian Ambassador, Ato Tekle Haimanot Tedla - and subsequently also visited the Italian Inspector-General, Engineer – Dr Giulio Pelesio. On his return to Addis Ababa, Ato Kidanewold, drew up a report on the Obelisk. It was drafted in collaboration with the technical adviser of the Ministry of Public Works and Water Resources, Sune Norrbach. The Oblisk in Rome as photographed in 1971 showing cracking on the right-hand side where it was later to be damage by lightning "A great generation" This report was dated 18 Nahase. In it its authors recalled that the stele, or obelisks, were "hewed, adorned and erected by men with the skills of a great generation". The Obelisks, they believed, were excavated and erected, "in the latter part of the third or the early fourth century during the zenith time of Axumite kingdom". Turning to the stele taken to Rome, on Mussolini's personal orders, Ato Kidanewold noted that it had been "placed in Rome in the corner of the Viale Aventino and Viale delle Termo di Caracella, in front of the Rome headquarters of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation": FAO. This building, it will be recalled, was the former headquarters (in Fascist times) of the Italian Ministry of Italian Africa. Describing the Obelisk in some detail, the report continued: Decorated on all four sides "The stele is decorated on all four sides. Above the base on two sides of the stele is an imitation of an entrance door followed by ten rows of simulated windows all around the stele, to give the impression of different floors. Each succeeding window-row is separated from the next one by two horizontal layers of small circles, which symbolize layers of wood. The top of the stele is almost a semi-circle connected with the lower part through a curved neck. The height of the stele above the basement level is 21.20 meters. The Oblisk in Rome as damaged by lightning in May 2002 "The stele is raised on a concrete foundation about 1.80m from the street level, thus making the total height of the monument 23.00m. Of the basement structure only half the top slab is original Axum granite, a stone slab measuring about 2.60m x 3.30m x 0.30m." Two comments at this point deserve to be made. Firstly: The Obelisk in Rome is superior to the standing one in Aksum in that the former is decorated, as the report says, on all four sides, whereas the latter is decorated only on the front and two sides. Some authorities believe that the Obelisk in Rome was therefore carved after the one in Aksum, by which time Aksumite technology had advanced. Secondly: the "layers of small circles" referred to in the report are what are nowadays often referred to as "monkey heads": an architectural form later much used in the Lalibela churches. That "monkey heads" were produced at Aksum in the late third and/or early fourth century and at Lalibala in the twelfth and/or thirteenth century illustrates a notable architectural continuum in Ethiopian civilisation. The Kidanewold-Norrbach report then went on to discuss the condition of the Obelisk, and declared that it was: "clearly broken into four blocks at the height of 4.60m. 13.40m and 16.9m measured from the top of the basement structure... the first crack is visible all around the second window-row, the second crack at the seventh and the third at the ninth window row. Around the cracks the edges are damaged in several places making the cracks look rather wide. During the erection of the stele at the present site the blocks have been joined together by some kind of reinforcement and mortar. Below cracks at the face of the stele there can be seen large traces of mortar dissolved in the rainwater. There are also other cracks especially in the top of the stele but it seems they do not go through the section of the column". Elaborating on the damage, and the repairs which had been carried out in Rome, the report continued: "New pieces of stone" "Around the big cracks the corners of the stele had probably been seriously damaged. The repair was done by cutting out the damaged parts of the corners and replacing them with new pieces of stone. In some places it is possible that the pieces were cut out to facilitate the joining of the blocks. Generally the stone in the repaired corners seems lighter than the original, which indicates that at least some pieces have been replaced with another type of stone". The problem, we may comment, was that the shipment of the Obelisk from Aksum to Rome was a rush job, perhaps because the Duce had hoped to have the monument erected in May 1937: to commemorate the first anniversary of his declaration of the Fascist Empire. The Obelisk in fact arrived too late, and was therefore unveiled as part of the Fascist celebrations to commemorate Mussolini's so-called March on Rome of 1922, i.e. his suppression of Italian freedom. Perhaps as a result of the rush several smaller pieces of the Obelisk were left behind in Aksum, where they were half a century later discovered by the British archaeologist David Phillipson. It was essentially for this reason that the missing pieces of Aksumite stone were replaced, as the report notes by "new pieces of stone" which Kidanewold and Norrbach describe as lighter than the original material. Ethiopian Government holds Italian responsible The "joining" mentioned in the report was effected with steel pins, which may well have been responsible for the destruction by lightning which sadly occurred in May of this year. This was the destruction which the Ethiopian Government officially hold the Italian responsible. Elaborating further on the condition of the Obelisk, the 1971 report notes that the elevation from the Viale Aventino, should be considered as the right side, and continues: "On the front side under the first crack the right corner is repaired for 1.10m, above the crack for 2.0m. "On the rear side under the first crack the right corners are repaired for about 0.90m. Above the second crack both corners are repaired for about 0.70m. Under the third crack the corner is repaired for 0.60m on the left side and probably above the crack on the right side for about 0.40m. At the top the left side seems to be repaired for about 1.0m.” "The stele has some external damage which has not been repaired. The sharp edges of the decorations have been damaged in some places. Just above the basement level the corners have got small damage and also the edge of the column left of the door on the front side. At the level of the first row of windows on the front side there are also two considerable traces of damage.". It is evident from the above that it was where the "new pieces of stone", the ones "lighter than the original", as the report says, had been introduced that the lightning wrought its tragic damage. No lightning conductor The situation was aggravated by the fact that no steps were taken to attach a lightning conductor as is normal practice, even on much smaller buildings. [The author thanks Dr Berhanou Abebe for access to the Kinanewold-Norrbach report here cited, and to Mr Denis Gerard for reproducing the Obelisk photo of 1971, also from the Behanou Abebe collection.]