Posted on 11/27/2004 3:30:15 PM PST by blam
Italy Returns Stolen Obelisk to Ethiopia
By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News
Nov. 23, 2004 — A cyclopean task will put to an end a decades-long diplomatic dispute between Italy and Ethiopia over a looted obelisk, according to a bilateral agreement signed last week in Rome.
Signed by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin and Italian Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Alfredo Mantica, the deal set up the final details over the transport of a 160-ton granite stele from Rome to the city of Axum.
“ This is a symbol of national identity to Ethiopians. ”
The monument is one of a group of six obelisks erected at Axum when Ethiopia adopted Christianity in the 4th century A.D. It was stolen by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937 and turned into a symbol of fascist power during his short-lived efforts to revive the grandeur of imperial Rome.
Despite signing various agreements that promised to return the 1,700-year-old monument, the Italian government showed no signs of doing so until the obelisk was badly damaged by lightning in a thunderstorm in 2003.
By the end of last year, the column had been dismantled from Rome's Piazza di Porta, near the Colosseum, where it stood for more than six decades, and engineers began work on the logistic obstacles that would make the return a difficult feat.
Indeed, it was much easier for Mussolini to carry the obelisk to Italy. At that time, the monument was already in fragments. It was restored in Rome using metal rods embedded in concrete, making it very hard to disassemble.
Italy had transported the monument by ship in 1937, but Ethiopia's government required that the stele be returned by plane: the only convenient port lies in Eritrea, unfriendly to Ethiopia because of a border war.
Divided into three sections, the Axum obelisk has been restored from the thunderstorm damage and stored in a police warehouse near a Rome airport, where it has been awaiting a solution to the transportation problem.
"We studied the logistics carefully as we did not want to return a damaged obelisk," Mantica told reporters.
With each section of the obelisk weighing between 70 and 80 tons, Italian authorities have to find a plane strong enough to carry the monument's huge weight and some other 50 tons of machinery and casing. There are only two planes able to handle that weight: the U.S. Lockheed C-5 Galaxy and the Russian Antonov 124. Since all the Galaxy planes are currently being used in Iraq, the Antonov will carry out the task.
Six million euros ($7.8 million) and five daredevil flights — one for each section of the obelisk, one for the machinery and another one to test the airstrip — will be necessary to return the obelisk and assemble it in an archaeological park in Axum.
"We realize that the Axum obelisk is very important for the Ethiopian people and we are happy to return it," Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said.
The monument will fly back home before the Ethiopian rainy season starts in April. The African country has already built a more suitable airstrip, but weather conditions will have to be perfect to make the return safe, Italian authorities said.
"This is a symbol of national identity to Ethiopians. We have been receiving vain promises from Italy for years, but now we are certain that by next year, between February and April, the obelisk will return to Ethiopia," Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said.
A national holiday has been promised for the day the obelisk is finally.
GGG Ping.
Is there some significance to one country gaining and the other loosing a phallic symbol?
It's a Trojan Horse.....
A "cyclopean" task? They're going to throw it?
Ping. We were talking about this 2-3 years ago.
BTTT
"Indeed, it was much easier for Mussolini to carry the obelisk to Italy. At that time, the monument was already in fragments. It was restored in Rome using metal rods embedded in concrete, making it very hard to disassemble."
One wonders what would have become of it had Mussolini not pinched it and had it restored in Rome 60 odd years ago & I wonder what condition it'll be like 60 years from now.
"Six million euros ($7.8 million) and five daredevil flights "
You'd think the money'd be better spent improving some of their peoples lot really wouldn't you? Hardly a wealthy nation are they?
My employer goes there every year because he's a rastafari. However, a lot of people don't know the deep judeo-christian roots of the place. It's home to the church that is rumored to have the Ark of the Covenant. Also, one of the few African countries that was never colonized by the Europeans.
rasta's employ people ????
Don't know why it was in fragments, probably done by the Italians when they were occupying Ethiopia. It's theirs and not for foreigners to steal, unless one is the taliban and in a true self hating fashion destroy one's own monuments.
No it's rare for rastafarians to employ someone outside their family. Why do you ask? LOL
The only Rasta's I've ever met have been in Barbados where my mother lives half the year.
They have to be the most unlikely employers on the planet. They live in shacks, grow their own ganja and live on produce pinched from other peoples farms.
Most of em are nice guys though and sometimes very funny.
"It's theirs and not for foreigners to steal"
I agree, but wonder what will happen to the thing now.
http://www.sundialherbs.com/html/the_bush_doctor.html
You're right. That's how many live where he is from (Jamaica). Here in America, they sometimes grow their own reefer but are very self employed so they don't have to answer to anyone. I'm especially lucky to still have a job though.
I hope it goes back where it belongs. Everyone that's been there says that Ethiopia is a wonderful place but the poverty is hardscrabble shall we say. Hopefully, someone with sense will try to generate tourism dollars the way they do with the christian and jewish history tours.
The Church Of St Mary Of Zion - 1635 - Built By Emperor Fasilidas
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