MENELIK-II PLACE

In front of St. George's Church and not far from the town hall, Place Ménélik II is dominated by the equestrian statue of Emperor Ménélik designed by the German architect Haertel. Inaugurated in 1930, on the eve of his coronation, the statue was unbolted by the Italian occupiers, anxious to remove any reference to their humiliating defeat at Adwa, inflicted by Menelik. The statue was not returned to its original position until 1955, during the festivities commemorating Haile Selassie's Golden Jubilee. He came to lay a wreath every year.