Usually, war destroys history, but not here. It was Eritrea's long history of conflict, which isolated it from the outside world, that preserved Asmara. The British, who took control of Eritrea from the Italians during World War II, did little to alter the place. Their main influence on Asmara architecture was to remove some of the more blatant architectural tributes to Mussolini.
Ethiopian control over Eritrea, its tiny northern neighbor, lasted from 1962 to 1991 but did little to change Asmara either. The city was largely left to languish as Eritrean rebels waged a 30-year war for independence, a grueling campaign that required them to sustain themselves in the country's harsh landscape. Asmara was a place they dreamed of returning to one day.
In 1991, after the fall of the military regime in Ethiopia, that dream came true. The new nation of Eritrea, created officially in 1993, found its capital tattered but standing. But peace did not last long: a border skirmish with Ethiopia broke out in 1998 and lasted two years, leaving tens of thousands dead and wrecking the country's economy. Asmara emerged a little more weathered but still largely unscathed.
The city was designed as an extension of the Italian lifestyle of the 1930's. The broad avenues promoted the passeggiata, or evening stroll. The sidewalk cafes and ornate cinemas were places of diversion.
Despite Eritrea's difficulties, that lifestyle lives on. Eritreans, more than any other Africans, still relish leisurely walks. They crowd along the old Viale Mussolini, now called Harnet Avenue (from the Tigrinya word for independence), ambling along to nowhere in particular.
| Continue Marc Lacey's New York Times article "In an African City, All Roads Lead to Rome"
posted in articles on September 10, 2003 10:33 PM | t (0)
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