The monument to the Lion of Judah is a statue of the

Lion of Judah The Lion of Judah ( he, אריה יהודה, ) is a Jewish national and cultural symbol, traditionally regarded as the symbol of the tribe of Judah. The association between the Judahites and the lion can first be found in the blessing given by ...

, symbol of Ethiopian Emperors and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, and is located in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

History

The monument is located in the square of the Addis Ababa railway station in

and marks the end of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

Avenue, one of the main arteries of the city. The sculpture of the Lion of Judah, in gilded bronze, is placed on a black granite pedestal decorated with relief portraits of

emperors An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Menelik II , spoken = ; ''djānhoi'', lit. ''"O steemedroyal"'' , alternative = ; ''getochu'', lit. ''"Our master"'' (pl.) Menelik II ( gez, ዳግማዊ ምኒልክ ; horse name Abba Dagnew (Amharic: አባ ዳኘው ''abba daññäw''); 17 A ...

, Haile Selassie I, Zewditu, and ''

Ras Ras or RAS may refer to: Arts and media * RAS Records Real Authentic Sound, a reggae record label * Rundfunk Anstalt Südtirol, a south Tyrolese public broadcasting service * Rás 1, an Icelandic radio station * Rás 2, an Icelandic radio stati ...

'' Makonnen Wolde Mikael. The work was made by the French sculptor

Georges Gardet Georges Gardet (October 11, 1863 – 6 February 1939) was a French sculptor and animalier. Biography The son of a sculptor, Gardet attended the École des Beaux-Arts in the ''atelier'' of Aimé Millet and Emmanuel Fremiet (another noted ...

in 1930, on the occasion of the coronation of Emperor Hailé Selassié on 2 November 1930. After the 1974 revolution, the

Derg The Derg (also spelled Dergue; , ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, then including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when the military leadership formally " c ...

regime thought of removing the monument, symbol of the monarchy, but an association of Arbegnoch veterans claimed that it was a memory of Ethiopian antifascist resistance and a symbol of Ethiopia. Therefore, the regime agreed to leave the monument, which is still in front of the Addis Ababa central station. In 1954, a new monument was commissioned by

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Hailè Selassiè from sculptor

Maurice Calka Maurice Calka (1921 – 1999) was a French sculptor, designer and urbanist from Łódź, Poland. Calka was awarded the Grand Prix de Rome in 1950. He was a professor at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris (ENSBA)-(National ...

. The monument is found around the National Bank of Ethiopia and the National Theater.

1935: Looted by Fascist Italian force

Leone_di_Giuda_presso_l'obelisco_ai_Caduti_di_Dogali_a_Roma

At the end of the so-called

March of the Iron Will The March of the Iron Will () was an Propaganda of Fascist Italy, Italian Fascist propaganda event staged from 26 April to 5 May 1936, during the final days of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. Its goal was to capture the Ethiopian ca ...

(in italian: Marcia della ferrea volontà) (during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War) that led to the occupation of Addis Ababa by the

Italian army "The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...

, the statue was transported to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in 1935 at the end of the

Second Italo-Ethiopian War The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression which was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Itali ...

. On 8 May 1937, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the proclamation of the

Italian Empire The Italian colonial empire ( it, Impero coloniale italiano), known as the Italian Empire (''Impero Italiano'') between 1936 and 1943, began in Africa in the 19th century and comprised the colonies, protectorates, concessions and dependencie ...

, the Lion of Judah sculpture was placed just beyond Square of Five hundred to

, under the obelisk that remembers of the

Battle of Dogali The Battle of Dogali was fought on 26 January 1887 between Italy and Ethiopia in Dogali near Massawa, in present-day Eritrea. History The Italians, after their unification in 1861, wanted to establish a colonial empire to cement their great p ...

. The Lion of Judah statue remained in Rome until the 1960s, when it was returned to Ethiopia after the negotiations in Addis Ababa. Emperor

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...

took part in the new inauguration ceremony in military uniform, also recalling the patriotic gesture of Zerai Derres.

Zerai Derres rebellion

On 15 June 1938, the young Eritrean Zerai Deres made a protest against the

Italian occupation of Ethiopia Italian East Africa ( it, Africa Orientale Italiana, AOI) was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somalia, Italian Eritrea, and the newly occupied Ethiopian Empire, conquered in the Secon ...

in front of the monument. Brandishing a

scimitar A scimitar ( or ) is a single-edged sword with a convex curved blade associated with Middle Eastern, South Asian, or North African cultures. A European term, ''scimitar'' does not refer to one specific sword type, but an assortment of different ...

, he wounded several onlookers and was shot by soldiers. He was arrested by the fascist militia and imprisoned in a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

(however, contemporary Italian historians doubt the claim that he was mentally unstable) in Sicily, where he died in 1945. For this gesture Zerai Deres is considered a national hero both in Eritrea and Ethiopia., cited in

Filmography

* (19 January 2012) * (3 April 2011) * (7 March 2013) * (3 March 1937) * (12 May 1937)

Note

External link