After more than 60 years, Italy will return a looted obelisk to Ethiopia.

Story by Augustus Rylands / Feb. 20, 2004

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The Axum Obelisk, which has adorned a Roman piazza for the last 67 years, is waiting to be shipped back to Ethiopia.

When Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1937, his army seized a 1,700-year-old obelisk and hauled it back to a piazza in Rome. Now, after almost seven decades, workers have dismantled the 78-foot-tall Axum Obelisk and stored its pieces at an airport. The obelisk is scheduled to be shipped home to the northern Ethiopian city of Axum, or Aksum, sometime this spring—that is, if the Italian government can find a plane capable of lifting the 160-ton monument.

The story of the Axum Obelisk's imminent return could set a precedent in the international community. The British Museum is once again under pressure to return to Athens the Elgin Marbles, a group of statues originally part of the frieze adorning the Parthenon, which a British ambassador removed (some say salvaged) in 1801. The Louvre collections largely consist of works seized by Napoleon. Victims of the Third Reich are still trying to reclaim art works the Nazis pilfered.

"The people of Axum, and of Ethiopia as a whole, have not forgotten its loss," wrote Professor Richard Pankhurst, co-founder of the Return Our Obelisk Committee, to the Roman newspaper L'Unit. "The stele is very rightly regarded in Ethiopia as an important part of its cultural heritage, and one which the country cannot afford to lose. Italians, with their own rich cultural heritage, should be among the first to understand the monument's importance."

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his council of ministers renewed Italy's commitment to return the Axum Obelisk to its rightful owner two years ago. Yet the obelisk should have been returned within 18 months of the signing of the September 1943 peace treaty between Italy and the Allies. Italy signed further agreements in 1956 and 1997 but never acted on them. Berlusconi's decree responded to renewed pressure from the Ethiopian government: "We are not going to shoot at them, that's for sure," Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told the UN's Regional Information Network, "but short of that, we will do everything in our capability to try and retrieve our obelisk."

The structure is one of the most important surviving artifacts from Ethiopia's imperial past, the most ornate and second largest of more than 50 granite stelae discovered on the site of the ancient city of Axum, capitol of an empire that stretched from the Red Sea to the Nile. In addition to its historical significance, Axum is the spiritual center of Ethiopia. In the fourth century A.D., the Axumite state became the first nation in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion. The city's church of St. Mary of Zion claims to house the Ark of the Covenant.

When he stole the stele, Mussolini was following Italy's imperial tradition. Many of Rome's piazzas still boast obelisks from Egypt and Mesopotamia, in celebration of ancient Roman conquests. The Axum Obelisk was raised in the middle of Piazza di Porta Capena, in front of what was then the Ministry of the Colonies, but which is now the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Until recently, few Italians were aware of the origin or significance of the Axum obelisk. It stood on a traffic island at the center of a busy intersection, away from any tourist route, with no sign to identify it. Despite the protracted negotiations between the Italian authorities and the Ethiopian government, there was little interest in the obelisk, which made it hard for Ethiopia to understand why Italy had not returned the monument.

The delay, which Ethiopians have denounced as procrastination, has been defended by the Italians as a mixture of concern for its safety and thwarted good intentions. A 1956 agreement broke down over disputes about shipping costs. The Italian Foreign Ministry Haile Selassi in 1969 told the Italian envoy, Duke Amedeo of Aosta, that Italy should consider it his personal gift to the nation since the cost of repatriating the heavy monolith was prohibitive. In 1997 an Italian plan for its return could not be carried out because of the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Since 2001, however, the Ethiopian government has reiterated more forcefully than ever its request for restitution. Then, in May 2002, lightning struck the obelisk, shattering three-foot-long chunks of stone from its summit. Ethiopia responded with fury to what they perceived to be Italian carelessness; the stone was never fitted with a lightning rod.

Despite the fact that the increased fragility of the obelisk has made transportation risky, in November workers with hydraulic jacks began dividing the monument into several pieces, which they removed with cranes. Following a study by ICCROM, an organization for the preservation of monuments, they separated the obelisk apart along existing cracks. (When the Italian army found the obelisk in the 1930s, it was already broken into three manageable fragments, which they seamlessly reassembled with cement in Rome.) Now, however, the Italian government must find a cargo plane to transport the stones, which cannot be shipped because Ethiopia has no ports.

Italy's postwar relationship with Ethiopia has been cordial; a large community of Italians exists in Addis Ababa, and Italy has provided funds to build hospitals and roads in its former colony. Yet in a statement issued on July 22, 2001, the Ethiopian government said it "would trust the commitment of the Italian government only when the obelisk is dismantled in Rome and restored to its original place."

Today, however, Ethiopia has reason to be optimistic about Italy's intentions. It has planned to designate a new national holiday on the date of the obelisk's return. "The struggle for the return of the obelisk has been going on so long that most Ethiopians are deeply aware of the issue and will rejoice at the obelisk's return," says Richard Pankhurst. "I am always amazed how many Ethiopians feel so deeply about this issue."

Augustus Rylands, former Preservation intern, was raised in Italy.

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