The so-called "Aksum obelisk" (according to formal characteristics, it is actually a stele) was brought to Rome in 1937 and installed in front of the building of the Ministry of Colonies. After the end of the Second World War, in 1947, an international agreement was signed, according to which Italy pledged to return to Ethiopia all cultural values previously removed from there, including this basalt obelisk, with a height of 23 m and a weight of 152 tons, which is the second largest such structure in ancient Aksum (there are about a hundred of them in total: hence its "official" name, Stela No. 2). It was installed in the 3-4th century. n. e., but after about 1000 years fell, and reached the beginning of the 20th century split into five parts (in Rome it was restored).
Despite the decision to return the monument, it took almost sixty years until, in April 2005, the obelisk, once again divided into three parts, was brought to Ethiopia on an AN-124 transport plane. But the project, carried out by UNESCO with money from the Italian government, was then only half implemented. Delivering the obelisk to Axum and setting it up in its original location was a much more difficult task. It took more than three years to develop specific technical solutions and preparatory work, but in early June the monument will be delivered to Axum, and work will begin to connect it together and to install it.
The "inauguration" of the returned home obelisk is planned to take place on September 10, 2008, on the last day of the jubilee year, during which the 2000th anniversary of the Ethiopian state was celebrated. But the final work will not be completed until December 2008.
The UNESCO leadership compares this project in its significance to the rescue of the temples of Abu Simbel and the Phile island in Egypt from flooding and the reconstruction of the architect Sinan's bridge in Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina), destroyed during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia. For these and many other events, the inclusion of endangered monuments in the World Heritage List was very important. In the case of Axum, this was done in 1980.
