Monuments to visit Ethiopia

Yekatit 12 means "February 19th" in Amharic. Known as the Martyrs' Monument or Sidist Kilo, like the district around it, the obelisk is a memorial to the Graziani massacre carried out by the Italians during the occupation in 1937. It pays tribute to all the resistance fighters and heroes of that war. After the 1945 armistice, Haile Selassie laid a wreath of flowers here every year. A closer look at the details of the obelisk reveals relief scenes of the massacre and the funeral of the victims, as well as a lion of Judah.

At the end of Churchill Avenue, opposite the old railway station, the statue of the Lion of Judah stands on its black granite pedestal. Its bas-relief features portraits of Menelik II, Haile Selassie, Empress Zewditou and Mekonnen Wolde Mikael. It was sculpted by French artist Georges Gardet in 1930. Stolen by the Italians in 1935, the Lion of Judah remained at the foot of the Dogali monument obelisk in Rome until its return in 1960. Since then, the monument has been dedicated to the memory of Zerai Deres, a young Eritrean in revolt against Italian colonialism.

An astonishing 2.5 m high stone milestone, the "Ezana Stone", is engraved with text in Geze, Sabean and Greek. It was found there in 1981 by a farmer ploughing his field. The inscription on the stele relates the episode of the battle against the Beja and other enemies of the kingdom, as well as the spread of Christianity under the sovereign's reign. Another passage warns that anyone wishing to destroy the edifice is doomed to a curse... A similar engraved stele is on display in the small Ezana garden in the town center.

Known as the "Pool of the Queen of Sheba", this cistern, whose name Mai Shum means "water of the chief", is said to have been the baths of the Queen of Sheba three thousand years ago. The other version is that it was dug in the early ^15th century as a water reservoir by the priest Abuna Samuel. Cut into the rock on one side and built on the other, this reservoir, which has been remodeled many times, is the rallying point for the great Timkat festival. The visit is not very interesting, but is included in the overall pass.

Located on the outskirts of the walled city, this well-preserved fortified castle features rounded turrets and high crenellated walls. It has been open to the public and converted into a museum since 2017. It is said to have been built in 1650 by a military officer of Emperor Fasilidas, Ras Walda Giyorgis, who made it his home and married the emperor's daughter, Eskenderawit. But the castle is best known for having been the imperial residence of Haile Selassie, who stayed here only five times in twenty-five years, but invited Queen Elizabeth II to visit in 1965. Sadly, the castle met with an unfortunate fate, as it was used as a torture chamber by the "Butcher of Gondar", military officer Melaku Tefera, during the Derg's red terror campaign between 1977 and 1979. Convicted of 971 murders and sentenced to death in 2005, his sentence was converted to life imprisonment in 2011. The castle remained closed until 2017, when it was reopened as a museum with the cooperation of the French Center for Ethiopian Studies.

The museum. The collection on the first floor includes the torture room under the Derg, preserved as a memorial to the many people who died or suffered severe abuse there. The general history of Gondar is also on display. On the second floor: in impeccable period style, the rooms of Emperor Haile Selassie and his wife Menen, with period furniture and objects. Finally, a staircase leads up to the emperor's study, with a single view of the city and the fields. We advise you to take a guide.

This little-known Unesco-listed castle, 65 km from Gondar, bears a striking resemblance to its cousins in the walled city, with its crenellated walls and cylindrical turrets - or rather, what's left of them. Located next to Emfraz, you have to take a 1 km chaotic track to get there. Probably built by Emperor Sarsa Dengal in the 1570s, whose architecture was inspired by the Ottoman model of Fort Debarwa, it offered a magnificent view of Lake Tana. It was probably remodeled by Fasilidas fifty years later.