The best museums Ethiopia

Funded by the musée des Arts premiers du quai Branly, this very interesting museum opened in 2009 and describes (in English and French) the complex Konso society. Photographs and everyday objects are on display. The museum's mission is to protect and preserve the waka, carved wooden funerary steles placed on the tombs of Konso clan chiefs. These rare pieces have long been easy prey for traffickers and unscrupulous grave robbers. The architecture of the building pays homage to Konso culture.

The museum is housed in the former palace of Emperor Yohannes (1872-1889), built on a hilltop overlooking the city. The architecture of this palace-fortress is surprisingly almost Art Deco in style. On the first floor, the hall houses a collection of weapons, coins, musical instruments and everyday objects, as well as manuscripts, icons and crosses from the ^16th and ^17th centuries. The royal apartments feature French furniture, as well as a variety of war dress and ceremonial outfits. The terrace was once an important venue for ceremonies.

Overlooking the entrance to the city, the museum is housed in a former mansion built by the Italians during the occupation. In addition to its collections of musical instruments, traditional handicrafts and religious objects, the place is interesting for the beautiful view it offers over the city and the former palace of Ras Mikaël, founder of the city at the end of the ^19th century, enthroned on the hill opposite (closed to the public). The museum is currently being renovated with financial support from The Ethiopian Heritage Trust, an NGO.

Comprehensive and well presented, this museum is undeniably interesting. Traditional clothing, musical instruments, the first Bible translated into Oromo by Anismos Neciv in the ^19th century... Objects and tools from the Oromo culture tell us about the daily life and work of this ethnic group with cotton, wood, leather, metal, horn, stone or earth. One room also highlights the Jebelawi, a Muslim ethnic group living around Asosa. Some of the explanatory panels, with their ideological texts, date back to the Derg period. A lively guided tour.

In three successive rooms, the museum presents the Oromo kingdom founded by King Abba Jifar and the history of his reign from 1830 to 1855. There are Oromo costumes and musical instruments, weapons and books, and local handicrafts, including the famous seats carved from a single piece of wood. Among the possessions of the Oromo rulers, the throne of the last king Abba Jifar is one of the major pieces in the collection. This king was also the first to convert to Islam following the Gondar Abdul Hakim trader in 1830.

Zoma Museum is a new architectural and botanical discovery center in Addis Ababa, popular with families at weekends for its large, quiet garden planted with local species and flowers. This is not a classic museum, but a series of small houses made of earth, brick, straw and other natural materials used in traditional Ethiopian architecture, with walls sculpted with geometric designs. They house a restaurant, a bookshop... and it's possible to tour them with a guide, as there are no explanatory panels.

This palace was built in 1870 by Moti Kumsa Moroda, the third and last king of Wolega, who converted to Christianity and pledged allegiance to Emperor Menelik. His family, who lived there, were later evicted by the Derg and sent to Addis Ababa. Since then, it has been opened to the public and transformed into a museum dedicated to Oromo architecture. The two-storey palace also features a dozen buildings built in an interesting traditional architectural style. Guided tour in pleasant rudimentary English, complementary to that of the museum.

After eight years in the making, the Coffee Museum was inaugurated in 2015 to great fanfare in Kaffa, the historic home of the red bean roasted and ground around the world. Since then, the empty building has struggled to be filled, apart from a modest exhibition on the history of coffee, and in particular of the Kaffa species and its cultivation in the region. There are, however, a few archaeological objects on display, including the world's oldest coffee beans, discovered in the Kumale cave in the ^3rd century AD. An exhibition that makes you want an espresso immediately.

This museum opened just before the 2020-2021 war. The museum itself boasts some fine pieces, including a pagan sacrificial altar found at Adi Akaweh, dating back twenty-eight centuries, as well as a wealth of pottery, jewelry, everyday objects and contemporaries from Roman times, found at various sites around Adigrat and Aksum in particular. There's also Wukro's first electric generator, dating from the early ^20th century, and a series of photos of the local inhabitants.

This new museum, located in the heart of the new Parc de l'Amitié, completes a rapidly changing cultural offering in this aristocratic district of the city. This small private museum is housed in the former home of Mrs. Yimtubezinash Habte, built in 1892 by Indian builders who blended their architecture with Ethiopian style. It is a historical symbol, as it is contemporary with the creation of Addis Ababa, and Mrs. Habte was a turn-of-the-century businesswoman and sister of Fitawrari Shemeles Habte, the Harar administrator at the time who fought against Italy during the first invasion of Meychew. She herself was a resistance fighter imprisoned by the Italian military until 1933, a true female figure in the building of the Ethiopian nation. The house remained in the family for five generations, until she decided to bequeath it to create a museum that aims to be patriotic and unifying, in an Ethiopia that needs symbols of unity today. The permanent exhibition features period photos and a focus on the Battle of Adwa, where the Ethiopians won the decisive battle over the Italians that made this nation the only country ever colonized in Africa. Photos of Addis Ababa in its infancy are also on display. The museum also conducts research into Ethiopian heritage and organizes conferences on the subject. Temporary exhibitions are also scheduled.

Inaugurated in October 2022 by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, this museum dedicated to science and digital transformation is futuristic in its architecture. It is located close to Unity and Friendship Parks in the new tourist heart of Addis Ababa. Its 15,000^m2 circular showroom is nicknamed the "Ring of Wisdom". It symbolizes humanity's endless capacity to create. Exhibitions are interactive and didactic. Like the Géode in Paris, the Théâtre du Dôme has a 3D cinema.