“Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia provides visitors with an extraordinary opportunity to come face to face with Lucy, the oldest, most complete, and best preserved adult fossil of any erect-walking human ancestor,” said Bryce Seidl, president and CEO of Pacific Science Center. Discovered in 1974 by American Paleoanthropologist Donald Johnson, Seidl said Lucy “continues to profoundly influence our understanding of human origins.”
The exhibition stays open from Oct. 4, 2008 to March 8, 2009. On display would be historical and cultural artefacts packing 3000 years of history, ranging from the Axumite Civilization through the Zagwe Dynasty at whose center lie the spectacular rock-hewn churches of Lalibela unto the 17th century Castles of Gonder.
“… Artifacts that illuminate Ethiopia’s rich heritage include a wide
selection of objects from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church such as illuminated manuscripts and
processional crosses, a selection of Korans from the holy city of Harar, the fourth most important site in
Islam, and the first coins minted by an indigenous African civilization. Paintings, musical instruments,
implements of daily use, a scale model of the famous Church of St. George in Lalibela and more will also
be on display,” according to a press release obtained from the Pacific Science Center.
While lectures would be given by scholars invited by the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture of the University of Washington, the Pacific Science Center will also feature the IMAX ® Mystery of the Nile, a 114-day expedition starting from Egypt, traveling through Sudan all the way to the source of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia.
In the meantime, Ethiopians resident in Seattle say there is a feeling of jubilation in their community that Lucy and some of the exquisite cultural and historical artefacts of their country of origin have made it to their home away from home in Seattle. Many hail as refugees from a turbulent political past and present. They believe Lucy’s exhibition would be a good opportunity to introduce the “other side” of Ethiopia that the world is not that much accustomed to.
More importantly, Ethiopians in Seattle would like to keep the Lucy Exhibition clean from being a subject of a publicity stunt for the government in Addis Ababa. Many share the idea that no official from the unpopular government of Meles Zenawi should be linked to the Lucy Legacy.
Among Ethiopians who protested to Seattle University was Shakespear Feyissa, an alumnus of the university but now a Seattle-based attorney known as a vocal critic of the regime in Addis Ababa.
Seattle is home to about 35,000 Ethiopians, and most are profoundly opposed to the Zenawi regime, which has been in power since 1991, and is often accused by human rights groups of commiting gross rights violations as well as stealing a popular election in 2005.
