Two Imperial Compounds in Ethiopia: Survey and Restoration

Abstract

Ethiopia is a very old African country hosting an outstanding, well known and sometimes also well maintained built heritage: ancient churches deeply rooted in the Christian Orthodox tradition; magnificent castles dating back to its Middle Ages (the seventeenth century); secular buildings and modern urban plans masterly designed by the Italians in the 1930s. Less well known, though, are some historic imperial buildings whose construction is more or less coincident with the modern foundation of two very different capital cities, both located in the cool Ethiopian Highlands: the castle of Emperor Yohannes IV in Mekele, in the northern region of Tigray, and the Gebbi (palace) of Emperor Menelik II centrally located in Addis Ababa, which is now the capital city of Ethiopia and, by far, its largest metropolis [1]. Both complexes are, in some ways, reminiscent of the general layout of the celebrated castles in Gondar, sharing the walled, multibuilding pavilion-like imperial typology. But they also represent, in their different architectural tastes and choices, very different stages of the imperial history. The Mekele compound is made up of the main building for the Emperor and of a smaller, quite similar, later service building; the original main entrance has been doubled by a more recent one facing a major urban square. It looks like a fortified castle dating back to the Middle Ages, it speaks of warriors and battles in a distant northern region, not far from the ebullient Eritrean and Sudanese borders. The Addis Ababa compound, much larger, is composed of at least ten historic buildings (originally there were more), very different from one another in terms of design, size, typology, functions, building materials, etc., and a wall with numerous monumental gates; its urban location also plays a fundamental role for the sometimes incoherent but definitely imposing urban fabric of the central part of the Ethiopian capital. It looks like a park dotted with fancy pavilions, it speaks of coronations, receptions, gatherings, official visits of foreign delegations and also of a comfortably pleasant domestic life. It is reminiscent of the nineteenth-century Eclecticism, of the follies that were built in European royal gardens, of the extravagant architectural taste of the Indian rajas or of the pavilions that dotted the parks of the Ottoman pashas on the Bosphorus. It symbolically represents the end of an era. A few years ago, the Palace Administration in Addis Ababa hired us to survey and restore the two compounds, which we enthusiastically accepted to do. Both projects received official approval. The restoration of the palace of Yohannes IV is now complete, whereas work on Menelik’s Gebbi is in progress.