RAS MAKONNEN STATUE

Located outside the city walls, the equestrian statue of Ras Makonnen stands near the Harar Gate. The city's first governor, looking towards the southern lowlands conquered on behalf of his cousin Emperor Menelik, he was Haile Selassie's father. This bronze statue, cast in 1968 in Yugoslavia, is the work of Afewerk Téklé, a great Ethiopian artist. On the same square, the Military Academy, founded by Haile Selassie, houses some very fine stained-glass windows by the same artist on the theme of the great leaders of Ethiopian history.