Source: CCTV.com

09-06-2008 08:58

Tens of thousands of Ethiopians came out to cheer. They stood watching, Thursday as a 1,700-year-old giant stone obelisk was restored to its historic site in an ancient town in the north of the country. The obelisk was removed to Italy when the armies of Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in the 1930's.

A 1,700-year-old giant stone obelisk was restored to its historic site in an ancient town in the north of Ethiopia.

The national treasure was returned to Ethiopia three years ago by the Italian government. U.N. engineers helped install it at its original location in Axum, once the centre of a powerful trading empire.

Plundered during Italy's 1937 invasion, the 24-metre, 160-tonne chiseled granite tower had been placed in a Rome square by fascist leader Benito Mussolini.

A 1,700-year-old giant stone obelisk was restored to its  historic site in an ancient town in the north of Ethiopia.

The Italian government paid some 10 million U.S. dollars for shipping and installation costs.

It was returned in April 2005, but its restoration to the Axum site was delayed while scientists studied newly discovered subterranean funeral chambers and royal arcades dating from several dynasties before the Christian era.

 

Editor:Liu Fang