Re-Erection of Axum Obelisk to Be Inaugurated

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 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 in Addis Ababa.

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 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 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. Axum was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1980.