Under the warm sun of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the statue of Menelik II stands proudly, surrounded by marchers and performers celebrating the historic victory at the Battle of Adwa, a commemorative event taking place on 2 March 2021. This victory marks the triumph of Ethiopian forces over Italian invaders during the First Italo-Ethiopian War, on March 1, 1896. A photo capturing this excitement, taken by J. Countess for Getty Images, testifies to the commitment and of the pride of an entire people towards its history and its heritage.
However, far from this vibrant celebration, the Piassa district of Addis Ababa is suffering the destructive assaults of bulldozers, erasing centuries of Ethiopian history and culture. Once the beating and lively heart of the city, Piassa was a place where artisans, traders and macchiato lovers rubbed shoulders in cafes inherited from the Italian era. The narrow streets were the scene of glittering bargains and lively exchanges over gold and silver.
The face of Piassa changed profoundly with the arrival of the bulldozers. The emblematic buildings, witnesses of an architectural modernism which shaped the visual identity of Addis Ababa, have been reduced to dust. Gates and fences gave way to destruction, masked by blue corrugated iron, as debris was carted away to distant landfills, taking with it swaths of the city’s history.
The Addis Ababa Corridor Development Project calls for widened streets, cycle paths and modern buildings. The narrow streets and historic buildings of Piassa are sacrificed on the altar of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s ambition to transform the capital into a kind of African Dubai. Its objective is to make Addis Ababa a smart and modern metropolis, offering a decent quality of life to its 5.7 million inhabitants.
Unfortunately, the speed of change in Piassa has caught some residents and business owners by surprise, pushed to the limit by sudden evictions or exorbitant financial demands to modernize their own architectural heritage. Tensions were high, as evidenced by the example of tenants forced to replace their old windows with models made of tinted glass and aluminum frames, at prohibitive costs.
In this whirlwind of transformation, some iconic buildings have been preserved, such as the Hager Fikir Theater, the first theater in Addis Ababa. However, historic features such as the entrance gate and an annex, used as a torture chamber by the Italian occupiers, were demolished despite protests.
Supporting residents’ concerns, the Ethiopian Heritage Authority stressed that the mere age of Piassa’s buildings does not automatically protect them. Faced with ongoing destruction, it is imperative to preserve this heritage in other forms, such as photographic and video archives to transmit this history to future generations.
The metamorphosis of Piassa in Addis Ababa reflects complex choices between modernity and heritage preservation. In this quest for development, it is crucial to find a balance between urban progress and the conservation of cultural and historical identity. Through these upheavals, it is the soul of the city that is at stake, and the collective memory of the inhabitants that must be respected and preserved for generations to come.