The 9.3tn statue of Abune Petros, the Ethiopian Bishop martyred bishop during the Italian occupation is moving back to its old place, now above the light rail transit tunnel at Menelik Square.
Addis Abeba City Roads Authority (AACRA) started digging the ground on December 15, 2015, to lay a foundation for the statue, which has been temporarily standing in the compound of the National Museum. It was originally planned to be reinstated to its location by October 2014.
It was moved when the 34Km Addis Light Rail Transit (LRT) project started. Part of the reason for the delay was that Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) had to complete the construction of the road to Dejach Wube, which passes above the tunnel and this did not happen on schedule. The road was later constructed by Aser, a contractor selected by the Authority, with ERC covering the 113 million Br cost. This cost includes the re-installation of the statue, as part of the original contract for the road.
“Relocating and returning the statue was not an easy job that could be done by us, although we are mandated for heritage conservation,” said Ephrem Amare, cultural heritage inventory inspection director at the Ethiopian Authority for Research & Conservation of Cultural Heritage.
Experts from that Authority, who were involved in the re-installation of the Axum obelisk, when it was repatriated from Rome, Italy, collaborated with the experts from AACRA, he said.
The project was led by a newly formed committee with membership drawn from the Ethiopian Culture & Heritage Conservation, AACRA, ERC and the Mayor’s Office.
“It was expected that Addis Abeba Culture & Tourism Bureau and the National Culture & Heritage Conservation Authority would handle this project by their own; however, they requested us to do this as there was also budget insufficiency. We were told by the Mayor’s Office to take over the re-installation,” Fikadu Haile (Eng.), director general of AACRA and team leader of the committee for this project explained.
Before the Roads Authority started digging, a vibration study on the site was conducted. The statue will now stand on a wider and bigger foundation to resist the vibration of trains passing beneath it. The design for the foundation was submitted to the Authority on December 3, 2015 and it is being revised, together with United Engineers Consulting Plc, the consultant for the road to Dejach Wube, to make it more enduring and to include beautification elements for the area.
The statue of Abune Petros was erected in 1941 in memory of the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, who was killed by Italians, for urging the people not to submit. It was moved to its temporary location on Friday, May 2, 2013.
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