The return of the obelisk

The story of the Aksum (or Axum) obelisk has been in the Italian news for a number of years, but has not received much attention here. Now the NY Times takes notice:

More than six decades ago, a grasping, striving and not altogether pleasant imperialist named Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia and plundered some of its treasures, including a roughly 80-foot-high, 200-ton obelisk from the ancient city of Aksum. He hauled it back to Rome in 1937 and put it in front of a structure built to house a ministry for Italian colonies.

That building is now the headquarters of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and that carved granite pillar is now being dismantled, section by section, for transport back to Aksum, where it was first erected 1,700 years ago. . .

Italy held on to the Aksum obelisk despite a 1947 United Nations peace treaty that mandated its return and several subsequent formal agreements between Italy and Ethiopia that the obelisk should and would go home.

Italy kept the obelisk even though it did not demonstrate any particular appreciation for it. The obelisk did not tower over the center of one of Rome's many grand squares. It stood, instead, beside a noisy, traffic-choked intersection, without a plaque or anything else to alert passers-by to its antiquity. . .

[Ethiopian] Ambassador Hulluka said one of the biggest problems was the rapid turnover of Italian leaders. "We would negotiate with one government," he said, "and then the government would change." Italy has had more than 50 governments since the end of World War II.

Posted by David on December 10, 2003 10:59 AM