Obelisk of Aksum

악숨 오벨리스크

The Obelisk of Axum is a 24-metre-tall stone pillar in the city of Axum, Ethiopia. It is carved from a single block of phonolite, a type of volcanic rock, and weighs about 160 tonnes. It was made in the 4th century CE by people of the Kingdom of Aksum, an ancient Ethiopian civilization, and it is properly called a stele. It has two false doors carved at its base and window-like decorations on every side.

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At a glance

Country: Ethiopia
Location: Aksum, Ethiopia
Built: 350
Height: 24 m
Type: Monument

Quick answers

Where is Obelisk of Aksum?

Obelisk of Aksum is in Aksum, Ethiopia.

When was Obelisk of Aksum built?

Obelisk of Aksum was built in 350.

How tall is Obelisk of Aksum?

Obelisk of Aksum is about 24 m tall.

A granite stela of the Aksumite kingdom carved like a multi-storey tower, returned from Rome in 2005.

The stele is famous for its long trip. Italian troops took it to Rome in 1937 as war loot, and it stood there for almost 70 years before it came home. It was brought back to Ethiopia in 2005 and re-erected in its old home, where it was unveiled on 4 September 2008.

Markers for royal tombs

Axum has hundreds of steles in several stele fields. They are thought to have marked underground burial chambers. The biggest belonged to royal tombs and were decorated with several storeys of false windows and doors, while lesser nobles had smaller, plainer ones. Next to the grand steles you can still see rough early ones. The tallest of all, the Great Stele, was about 33 metres and probably fell soon after it was raised. Earthquakes and war also toppled steles, and by the 19th century only King Ezana's Stele still stood.

The long trip to Rome and back

When Italy ended its occupation of Ethiopia in 1937, the obelisk was cut into three pieces, trucked to the port of Massawa and shipped to Naples, then rebuilt in Rome. Italy agreed in 1947 to return it, but the job was hard and slow. The runway at Axum airport had to be lengthened first. In April 2005 the pieces flew home in a huge Antonov An-124 cargo plane, and the return cost Italy about 7.7 million dollars.

Standing again

Rebuilding began in June 2008 with a team chosen by UNESCO. Lightning had hit the obelisk in Rome in 2002 and damaged it, so the engineers used eight bars of aramid fibre, a strong plastic material, to hold the three sections together. This way the stele can better resist earthquakes, and there is no steel to attract lightning or to rust.

Fun facts

The obelisk is 24 metres tall and weighs about 160 tonnes.
It stood in Rome from 1937 and came back to Ethiopia in 2005.
The pieces were flown home in a giant Antonov An-124 cargo plane.
The Great Stele of Axum was about 33 metres tall but probably fell soon after being raised.