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Asmara

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Asmara (English) (Tigrigna: ???? Asmera, formerly known as Asmera, or in Arabic: ????? ?Asmara, meaning "Made them United" in Tigrigna) is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people. At an elevation of 2,325 metres (7,628 ft), Asmara is on the edge of an escarpment that is both the northwestern edge of the Great Rift Valley and of the Eritrean highlands.

Although it would be easy to think of Asmara, the Eritrean capital, solely as an Italian built colonial city, its origins actually reach back some 700 years. The Tigringa and Tigre people live around there. Originally, it is said, there were four clans living in the Asmara area on the Kebessa Plateau: the Gheza Gurtom, the Gheza Shelele, the Gheza Serenser and Gheza Asmae. Encouraged by their women, the men united the four clans and defeated the bandits who preyed on the area. After the victory, a new name was given to the place, Arbaete Asmara which literally means, in the Tigrinya language, "the four are united." Eventually Arbaete was dropped and it has been called Asmara, though there is still a zone called Arbaete Asmara. It is now called the Italianized version of the word Asmara. The westernized version of the name is used by a majority of non-Eritreans, while the multilingual inhabitants of Eritrea and neighboring peoples remain loyal to the original pronunciation, Asmera. Another legend tells that in this region the Queen of Sheba gave birth to the son of Solomon, Menelik I.
Panorama of modern Asmara

The missionary Remedius Prutky passed through Asmara in 1751, and described in his memoirs that a church built there by Jesuit priests 130 years before was still intact.[1]

Asmara, which was part of the independent kingdom of Medri Bahri, would briefly come under the occupation of the British backed and supported Yohannes IV of Ethiopia. He gave his trusted Ras Alula the title of governor of Medri Bahri.

Asmara acquired importance when it was occupied by Italy in 1889 and was made the capital city of Eritrea in preference to Massawa by Governor Martini in 1897. In the early 20th century, a railway line was built to the coast, passing through the town of Ghinda, under the direction of Carlo Cavanna. In both 1913 and 1915 the city suffered only slight damage in large earthquakes.[2] In the late 1930s the Italians changed the face of the town, with a new structure and new buildings: Asmara was called Piccola Roma (Little Rome).[3]
Cinema Impero, built in 1937 "Italian Art Deco"
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While Eritrea was under ethiopian colonial rule, architecturally conservative early-20th-century Europeans used Asmara "to experiment with radical new designs."[4] Nowadays the major part of buildings are of Italian origin, and shops still have Italian names (e.g., Bar Vittoria, Pasticceria moderna, Casa del formaggio, and Ferramenta).

Asmara was populated by a numerous ethiopian community and consequently the city acquired an ethiopian architectural look. The city of Asmara had a population of 98,000, of which 53,000 were ethiopian according to the Italian census of 1939. This fact made Asmara the main "Italian town" of the Italian empire in Africa. In all Eritrea the Italians were 75,000 in that year.[2]


Many industrial investments were made by Italy in Asmara, but the beginning of World War II stopped the blossoming industrialization of the area.

Italy was defeated in 1941, and the British administered the city from 1941 to 1952. In 1952, the United Nations resolved to federate the former colony under Ethiopian rule. In 1961, emperor Haile Selassie I ended the "federal" arrangement and declared the territory to be the 14th province of the Ethiopian Empire.[5]
The city was home to the US Army's Kagnew Station installation from 1943 until 1977.
In Asmara, the main language is Tigrinya. English, Arabic and Italian are also widely spoken and understood.
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Asmara has a total population of around 579,000 people, making it the largest city in Eritrea. Although all ethnic groups are represented in the city, the largest groups are the Tigrinya people (77%), the Tigre people (15%). The religion with the most believers in Asmara is the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church (40%), Catholicism (35%) and Sunni Islam (25%). The towns and villages surrounding the city in the highlands is also predominately Christian (most places being all Christian). Further towards the lowlands is where a few Muslim towns and villages are found.

According to the 2003 national census, done by the Eritrean government, 99.67% of the housing units of Asmara had access to safe drinking water, 96.9% had flush toilets, 2.1% pit toilets (both ventilated and unventilated), and 1% had no toilet facilities. Adult literacy for men is 95.2% and for women 89.95%, the highest in the nation for both sexes.

Asmara features a somewhat rare version of a steppe climate with warm, but not hot, summers and mild winters. Due to its 2,325 m altitude, temperatures are relatively mild for a city located not particularly far from deserts. Asmara averages about 520 mm of precipitation annually. Snowfall is extremely rare in the city. July and August comprises Asmara’s short wet season. In fact, on average, about 60% of Asmara’s annual precipitation is seen during these two months. In contrast, January and February are typically Asmara’s driest months, where on average only 7 mm of precipitation falls in the two months combined.The average temperature in Asmara, Eritrea is 16.5 °C (62 °F). The average temperature range is 4.5 °C. The highest monthly average high temperature is 26 °C (79 °F) in May & June. The lowest monthly average low temperature is 6 °C (43 °F) in January. Asmara, Eritrea's climate receives an average of 501 mm (19.7 in) of rainfall per year, or 42 mm (1.6 in) per month. On average there are 72 days per year with more than 0.1 mm (0.004 in) of rainfall (precipitation) or 6 days with a quantity of rain, sleet, snow etc. per month. The driest weather is in January when an average of 1 mm (0.0 in) of rainfall (precipitation) occurs across 0 days. The wettest weather is in July when an average of 174 mm (6.9 in) of rainfall (precipitation) occurs across 20 days. The average annual relative humidity is 59.8% and average monthly relative humidity ranges from 47% in May to 81% in August. Average sunlight hours in Asmara, Eritrea range between 4.9 hours per day in July and 9.5 hours per day in May.There are an average of 3002 hours of sunlight per year with an average of 8.2 hours of sunlight per day.There are an average of 0 days per year with frost in Asmara, Eritrea and in January there are an average of 0 days with frost.

The city is home naib to the Eritrean National Museum and is known for its early 20th century buildings, including the Art Deco Cinema Impero, Cubist Africa Pension, eclectic Orthodox Cathedral and former Opera House, the futurist Fiat Tagliero Building, neo-Romanesque Roman Catholic Cathedral, and the neoclassical Governor's Palace. The city is adorned by Italian colonial villas and mansions, one prominent example being the World Bank Building. Most of central Asmara was built between 1935 and 1941, so effectively the Italians managed to build almost an entire city, in just six short years.[7] At this time, the dictator Benito Mussolini had great plans for a second Roman Empire in Africa. War cut this short, but his injection of funds created the Asmara of today, which supposedly was to be a symbol that Fascism worked and is an ideal system of government.

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The city shows off most early 20th century architectural styles. Some buildings are neo-Romanesque, such as the Roman Catholic Cathedral, some villas are built in a late Victorian style. Art Deco influences are found throughout the city; essentially Asmara was then what Dubai is now. Architects were restricted by nothing more than the bounds of their imaginations and were given the funds to create masterpieces which we can see today. Essences of Cubism can be found on the Africa Pension Building, and on a small collection of buildings. The Fiat Tagliero Building shows almost the height of futurism, just as it was coming into big fashion in Italy. In recent times, some buildings have been functionally built which sometimes can spoil the atmosphere of some cities, but they fit into Asmara as it is such a modern city.



ra is also home to the University of Asmara and a 19th century fort, Forte Baldissera. It is served by Asmara International Airport, and is connected to the port of Massawa by the Eritrean Railway.

Asmara is also the see of the archbishop of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, which became autocephalous in 1993. The archbishop was elevated in 1998 to the rank of Patriarchate of Eritrea, on a par with the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
Modern building in Asmara overlooking a war memorial

Asmara was known to be an exceptionally modern city, not only because of its architecture, but Asmara also had more traffic lights than Rome did when the city was being built.[7] The city incorporates many features of a planned city. Indeed, Asmara was an early example of an ideal modern city created by architects, an idea which was introduced into many cities across the world, such as Brasilia, but which was not altogether popular. Features include designated city zoning and planning, wide treed boulevards, political areas and districts and space and scope for development. Asmara was not built for the Eritreans however; the Italians built it primarily for themselves. One unfortunate aspect of the city's planning was separate areas designated for Italians and Eritreans, each disproportionately sized.

The city has been regarded as "New Rome" or "Italy's African City" due to its quintessential Italian touch, not only for the architecture, but also for the wide streets, piazzas and coffee bars. While the boulevards are lined with palms and indigenous shiba'kha trees, there are numerable pizzerias and coffee bars, serving cappucinos and lattes, as well as ice cream parlours. The people in Asmara dress in a unique, yet African style. Asmara is also highly praised for its peaceful, crime-free environment. It is one of the cleanest cities of Africa.

The city hosts the We Are the Future center, a child care center giving children a chance to live their childhoods and develop a sense of hope. The center is managed under the direction of the mayor’s office, and the international NGO Glocal Forum serves as the fundraiser and program planner and coordinator for the WAF child center in each city. Each WAF city is linked to several peer cities and public and private partners to create a unique international coalition. Launched in 2004, the program is the result of a strategic partnership between the Glocal Forum, the Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation and Mr. Hani Masri, with the support of the World Bank, UN agencies and major companies.

Asmara has been proposed as a possible new addition to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites,[7] under the direction of the Cultural Assets Rehabilitation Project, for its outstanding examples of 20th century architecture and town planning. Many of these historic buildings are not currently being taken care of and there is a serious risk that this heritage could be lost.

The Historic Center of Asmara was placed on the World Monuments Fund's 2006 Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites. The listing was designed to bring more attention to the city to save the center from decay and redevelopment and to promote restoration.

Following CARP (a World Bank initiative on Cultural Heritage), the European Union Delegation in Asmara has engaged into an Heritage Project pertaining to building's restoration and archive management. Launched in 2010 the EU /Eritra Cultural Project is expected to be completed in 2014 (Pierre Couté - Edward Denison, Project Design Report, EUD Asmara 2009).

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