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Axum - Ethiopia
Jan. 17th, 2014 07:23 pmThe Stele of Axum! 1700 years old and 24 metres tall!
This stele was pinched by the Italians during their Conquest of Ethiopia and (relatively short lived) Grand Fascist New Roman Empire. It had fallen in the 4th century and lain in 3 or possibly 5 pieces for centuries. Italy agreed to return the stele in 1947, but it took 50 years to complete that promise, mainly due to the complicated logistics and vast expense involved. The repatriation, completed and re-erected in September 2008 ultimately cost Italy $7.7m. (God help us if the British Museum and London ever have to return all the items the Brits have pinched.) Wikipedia describes the nightmarish complication of the return rather amusingly. The Stele is held together with eight aramid fiber (Kevlar) bars, and not the iron bars originally used by the Italians when they reassembled it in Porta Capena Square in Italy - which regrettably had turned the 24m tall granite obelisk into a bit of a lightening attractor.
I'd been really looking forward to seeing the Stelae of Axum, because they are so impressive but also distinctly strange in their design...
( Read more... )
This stele was pinched by the Italians during their Conquest of Ethiopia and (relatively short lived) Grand Fascist New Roman Empire. It had fallen in the 4th century and lain in 3 or possibly 5 pieces for centuries. Italy agreed to return the stele in 1947, but it took 50 years to complete that promise, mainly due to the complicated logistics and vast expense involved. The repatriation, completed and re-erected in September 2008 ultimately cost Italy $7.7m. (God help us if the British Museum and London ever have to return all the items the Brits have pinched.) Wikipedia describes the nightmarish complication of the return rather amusingly. The Stele is held together with eight aramid fiber (Kevlar) bars, and not the iron bars originally used by the Italians when they reassembled it in Porta Capena Square in Italy - which regrettably had turned the 24m tall granite obelisk into a bit of a lightening attractor.
I'd been really looking forward to seeing the Stelae of Axum, because they are so impressive but also distinctly strange in their design...
( Read more... )
