AXUM, Ethiopia (AFP) — Ethiopia on Wednesday began work to relocate the famed Axum obelisk at its original site, seven decades after the 1,700-year-old treasure was removed by Italian troops, a UN expert said.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has overseen a multi-million-dollar operation to restore the obelisk in Axum in northern Ethiopia, where it once stood alongside around 100 other stelae.
The obelisk along with the Axum and Lalibela crosses figure among Ethiopia’s top national treasures and symbols.
“Engineers arrived today and completed the verifying work. The first block will be linked with the foundation tomorrow through cables and cranes,” Nada Al Hassan, UNESCO’s project head, told AFP.
The 150-ton stela, which returned in three pieces to Axum, a listed World Heritage Site in 2005, is expected to be fully re-erected and inaugurated by September this year.
“It’s a delicate object and we are trying to avoid any obstacles. The second and third blocks are scheduled to be reinstalled in the middle and end of July but the inauguration will take place on September 10 this year,” Hassan added.
Italian soldiers carted away the 24-meter (78-foot) third-century AD granite funeral stela in 1937 on the orders of then-dictator Benito Mussolini during his attempt to colonise Ethiopia.
Despite a 1947 agreement to return the obelisk, it remained in Italy until 2005, standing outside the Rome headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
Axum was the capital of the Axumite kingdom that flourished as a major trading centre from the fifth century BC to the 10th century AD. At its height, the kingdom extended across what are today Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen.
Government officials say many Ethiopians attah great significance to the obelisk as it symbolises the country’s long and rich past.
“It is a very important part of the heritage of Ethiopia. It was very hurtful that we couldn’t defend it at the time,” member of parliament Netsanet Asfaw told AFP.
“It is a reminder to us of the war; of the suffering; of the plunder; and of fascist cruelty to our people. Now we are healing as a result of its return,” she added.
British historian Richard Pankhurst joined the chorus of cheers for the obelisk’s return.
“The return of the obelisk is a return of Ethiopia’s historical culture. It shows the entire people that Mussolini was in fact guilty of war crimes and invasion without justification,” he said.
Pankhurst also called for the return of hundreds of manuscripts and crosses looted by British soldiers during an expedition against the Horn of Africa nation’s then-emperor Tewodros in 1855.
His mother, Sylvia Pankhurst, was a prominent British feminist who became a tireless pro-Ethiopian campaigner and virulently opposed Italy’s invasion. She later moved to Ethiopia and was given a state funeral there in 1960.