Obelisk to be broken up to return to Ethiopia

The announcement was made Thursday in Rome, where Italian officials are preparing to return the artifact known as the Axum obelisk, which was taken from Ethiopia by Italian soldiers in 1937.

Ethiopian and Italian engineers have been working together to figure out how to move the 24-meter column that is estimated to weigh between 150 and 200 tons. The obelist now stands in central Rome near the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

The 1,700-year-old obelisk was broken into pieces for its journey from Ethiopia to Italy, and technicians say it will be re-broken along some of the same lines for the trip home.

The two countries have been arguing over the obelisk for years. Italy agreed to return it, but has yet to set a date.

Expert worried that plan to return obelisk from Italy to Ethiopia could harm monument: Associated Press

ROME – After agreeing to return an ancient obelisk to Ethiopia, Italian officials are preparing to break apart the 24-meter (82-foot) monument for the move, and the approach they are using has one expert worried.

In July, Italy said it would move ahead with the promised return of the Axum obelisk, which had been the source of a decades-long dispute with Ethiopia. The 1,700-year-old monument in central Rome near the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization ( news – web sites) was hauled off by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s forces 65 years ago.

An Italian government moving team has decided to break up the 150-ton obelisk into three pieces that will then be flown to Ethiopia. Operations should start in December with the obelisk ideally erected in Ethiopia next spring, officials said Thursday.

The obelisk, which is too massive to lift and fly back in one piece, was broken up on its trip to Italy, then cemented together and held up with bronze rods. The government plan is to break the obelisk along the lines of the cement.

“We are aware it is a very delicate operation, but we couldn’t do otherwise,” said engineer Giorgio Croci, a consultant responsible for straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa who was hired to run the project.

However, architectural expert Maria Teresa Iaquinta, who studied ways to dismantle the obelisk several years ago in a report for the government, was concerned about the plan. She said breaking the obelisk along the cement would be risky, and she argued that new clean cuts would be less likely to harm the monument.

“I am skeptical about the option chosen,” she said. “There are too many unknown variables we currently have to take into account and that we can’t predict. Though this approach favors the conservation of the monument, it is also the most traumatic for the obelisk.”

“It will be essential to monitor the operations second by second and cross our fingers” she said.

The government operation will be monitored by a computer that will report any deformations that could undermine the structure.

Isma Ieshtu, an official at the Ethiopian Embassy, said he was hopeful about the plan. He noted that Ethiopian and Italian experts were working together to shift the statue.

“After years of disputes, it is an encouraging sign to see Italian and Ethiopian technicians cooperate around the Axum obelisk,” he said.

Back to
NewsPage