Ancient Obelisk Weighs 70 Tons 

Wanted: An airplane strong enough to carry the 70-ton pieces of an ancient obelisk from Rome to Ethiopia, nearly seven decades after Italian Fascist forces hauled the monument out of Africa. Engineers dismantled the 1,700-year-old Axum Obelisk at the end of last year from where it had stood since 1937 near the Circus Maximus in central Rome after the Fascist invasion of Ethiopia. Divided into three sections, the obelisk is in storage near a Rome airport.

"We are waiting for an airplane" that can accommodate the weight of the obelisk, said Eshetu Yisma of the Ethiopian Embassy in Rome on Monday.

Each section of the obelisk weighs 70 to 80 tons, Yisma said. The three pieces will be transported individually and reassembled at their original location in Axum, northern Ethiopia. The Italian government has agreed to pay for the transportation. Two committees of engineers and archaeologists in Italy and Ethiopia have been coordinating the project.

Ethiopian officials have demanded the return of the obelisk for decades. Italy agreed to send the monument back in 1998, but a border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea put those plans on hold. In May, it was badly damaged by lightning, which smashed the top of the monument, causing stone pieces to crumble to the ground.

FMI:  www.ethiopar.net