Heritage exhibition in Addis Ababa

Exhibition entitled Neglected Heritage. Architecture of the first 50 years of the Capital of Africa.

As Ethiopia plans for a capital of more than four million inhabitants Addis Ababa is being transformed by modern development and much of its 19th and 20th-century heritage is disappearing. However there are organisations, such as the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC) trying to protect the city’s urban architectural heritage and culture. Fasil Giorghis and Helawie Sewnet, the organisers of the exhibition also lecture on Heritage and Urban Development Monday 16 September, Alliance Ethio-Française Cinema Hall, 18.30.

The population of Addis Ababa could triple in the next 30 years and there is already an acute shortage of living units. According to a Habitat-UN report, 80 per cent of the existing ones are sub standard. Therefore in 2011 the city government announced an ambitious plan to redevelop all “informal” and “unplanned” parts of the city.

With this is mind the EiABC, in conjunction with such organisations as the Alliance Ethio-Française and the Goethe Institute, is documenting the old ways of life and the city’s historic heritage before it is too late.

The exhibition of photo of the old city is in the Alliance Gallery.