After being take in 1937 by Mussolini's troops, Aksum's Obilisks have been reinstalled in Ethiopia. These 1700 year old 24m high 150 ton Obelisk were taken to Rome and were given back to Ethiopia in 2005. They now serve as a symbol of cultural identity to the Ethiopian community.
Article from http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/444
The first phase of the re-installation works of the Aksum Obelisk, also known as Stele 2, in its original location at the World Heritage site in Aksum, Ethiopia was completed on 12 June 2008. The first of three blocks of the stele, which stands 24.3 metres high and weighs 152 tons, was successfully and smoothly mounted.
The Aksum Obelisk re-installation project, funded by the Italian Government and conducted by UNESCO contractor Croci Associati, is using an innovative high-technology approach, and its implementation represents a technical feat of colossal scale. The project has been prepared to ensure a zero-risk approach for the monument and the surrounding site. The successful mounting of the first block is an extremely important step confirming the soundness of the project's complex design as well as the skills of the UNESCO contractors, the construction company Lattanzi and the supervision team (Croci Associati, SPC Engineering, and MH Engineering).
The remaining two blocks will be reinstalled from 16 to 31 July 2008, one year after the start of this exceptional project.
The inauguration ceremony will take place on September 4th.
9 comments:
I'm the first one to blog
no your not you didnt say anything important ! lol
okay well, i am in shock.
i am happy that the things are finally being brought back and i think that it is very nobel for them to return the Aksums Obiilsks back to Ethiopia.
ceci like i was telling you. a similar thing happened to china, that during on of these world wars some gold figures were stolen from the forbidden city and they will never be returned and its so sad because the place just has a replica and its not the same.
hay we mised the inauguration ceremonyy ! it already passsed :( jejeje
cool .. i had no idea that they took the obelisks from Aksum . its good that they returned them so that now people can appreciate their historic value in their birthplace and can truly see the cultural and geographical background .
I wonder if anyone knows why the Italians took the obelisk in the first place.
I think this is very interesting. It must have been awful for the people of Ethiopia to have their national symbols taken from them.
But it's good that they have now been returned.
emanuel why did they take them ?????
was it because they were so pretty that they wanted them ????
well, i think that Rome took the obelisks because it would beautify their city, but also Rome had a very open government and the conquered people had officials to represent them in government meetinge etc. Mayb they took the obelisk to show a lil' bit of their culture, and make them feel like if they were part of the Roman empire. thats what i think...
They probably took Obiilsks because of what Jose says and maybe as just a form of showing their dominance. Also, although i have no real substantial reason to say this but it almost seems like the figure became even more culturally connected to the people of Aksums when they gave it back. Not the best blog i put, and i also know that it's a little late, but technically in edline it says sept. 30 so i'm still in time.
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