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It started 70 years before. The Ethiopian campaign under Benito Mussolini was a politically meaningless and gruesome act of violence which extended Italy´s series of triumphs, conquering Libya, Eritrea and Somalia. In 1936, after a seven-month campaign, the troops marched into Addis Ababa - after unexpectedly difficult fighting against the Ethiopians, who were far less well armed. It was not until chemical weapons were used that the troops succeeded in overcoming the centre of Abyssinia. When Mussolini heard the news that there were pieces of an obelisk lying on the ground in Axum, he immediately ordered his pioneers to bring these back to Rome. It took several weeks to transport 180 tonnes of sacred stone blocks to Porta Capena as a trophy of the conquering of the Abyssinian kingdom. Rome's engineers spiked the sawn down blocks on an iron pole 24 metres high. Mussolini congratulated and celebrated it as an act of foundation for the fascist 'Roman Empire'.
It did not trouble the Romans that this war trophy was not in fact an obelisk - a ray of sun from the Egyptian sun god, Aton, formed as a four-sided stone. It is actually a pre-Christian Abyssinian grave pillar. Mussolini, a man with a sense of political rituals and imperialistic gestures, wanted to decorate his capital city with tall pillars symbolising Italian strength, as did the Caesars before him.
The pillar was set up between 100 and 300 A.D. in Axum, the city of the Princess of Sheba. Declared World Cultural Heritage in 1980, the ensemble of several pillars, to which the above-mentioned 'obelisk' belongs, is often described by experts as the Abyssinian Stonehenge, where the myth of the princess and her political power was set in stone. The Ethiopian emperors had to kneel down before these basalt pillars at their coronations in order to receive legitimisation for their absolute rule. A pillar with such a powerful history pleased the Italy fascists greatly. The Duce had the giant pillar set up in front of the 'Africa Ministry' behind the Circus Maximus, the place from which Italy stretched its greedy hand out to the South - a powerful souvenir, if not from Egypt, at least from Africa.
Ten year later, in 1947, in the peace treaty between post-war Italy and Ethiopia, it was agreed that all the spoils of war were to be returned within 18 months. However, in Italy this obligation was never taken seriously. In breach of all contracts, the pillar remained in Rome until 2005 on the Piazza di Porta Capena, where ironically the World Food Organisation (FAO) is situated.
Why was a relic of the faschist empire under Mussolini, a symbol of oppression, of a gruesome colonial war and of historical forgetfulness not returned? In 1958 when Ethiopia reminded Italy of its obligation to return the obelisk, Italy only promised to transport it to the port at Naples - a further provocation of the African country. The Ethiopian parliament announced that it would suspend diplomatic relations until the obelisk was returned. It was not until 1997 that the Prime Ministers Meles Zenawi and Silvio Berlusconi made a new agreement on the return. Now the World Heritage status of the pillar became the excuse for inactivity: due to conservation regulations and the great risks of transport damage, those responsible found themselves unable to act. The basalt was too sensitive - whereby the smog and the climate in Rome had already had considerable negative effects and were endangering the substance of the pillar.
On 28th May 2002 an Act of God reminded Rome of the spirit of the pillar. It was actually on the eve of the Ethiopian Independence Day that lightning struck the obelisk on the Piazza and damaged the tip. Italy had been reminded of its forgotten obligation and it took this powerful sign to force Berlusconi into action. Only a few days later he announced that the obelisk was being sent back to Axum - 56 years late.
In Ethiopia the pillar was greeted with wild celebrations. Together with veterans of the Second World War, religious leaders and thousands of people, the President and the Prime Minister of the country greeted the arrival of the last of the four blocks, delivered in a Russian Antonow plane. President Girma Wolde Giorgis wiped away tears during his speech. "This is the country of the Queen of Sheba, and this is where the obelisk belongs." In the autumn after the rainy season, the obelisk was put back together again and some time later set up in its old position.
The obelisk was the ninth important piece of art history to be returned to Ethiopia since 2001. The first was a sacred altar cloth stolen during the battle of Magdala in 1868, returned by a Scottish priest. On 29th October 2005, shortly after the return of the obelisk, the Anglo-Ethiopian Society in London handed over a helmet, which had belonged to a Portuguese officer in the 16th century. A memento of the Portuguese who once protected the kingdom from enemy attacks and much appreciated by the Ethiopians, the helmet fell into the hands of a British soldier in 1868. Richard Snailham, President of the society in London, had the helmet in his private collection having received it from one of the descendants of that soldier. That is the legend that has been finished in Addis Abeba.
"This is the beginning of a new chapter. Our colonial period is over", announced the Italian ambassador, Guido La Tella, in his speech in Addis Abeba. But the return of the Axum obelisk is no more than a gesture on the part of Italy. There are still major parts of the Abyssinian crown treasures, taken as booty in the colonial war, to be found in Rome´s archives. As long as the location of innumerable valuable war trophies has not been established, there can be no declaration that Rome's neo-colonial arrogance is over.
Links:
Ethiopian Embassy London: The return of the Axum-Obelisk
Ethiopian petition on the return of the Obelisk
UNESCO World Heritage: Axum |
