Monuments to visit Addis Ababa

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.