Asmara Unveiled: Eritrea’s Timeless City of Beauty and Diversity
Asmara, with a population of more than 400,000, is Eritrea’s biggest and most populous city as well as its historic capital. Thanks to a government policy of “positive discrimination,” the city lacks the depressing concrete apartment buildings common of postcolonial Africa as well as the messy, waste-covered ghettos that define many metropolises in developing nations. Though this is only one of the faces of a city whose backbone responds to simply Arab and African canons, the look of the center of Asmara is more like that with which we usually picture some towns in southern Italy.
A Harmonious Blend of Cultures and Religions
Opening the windows in the morning will let you hear the bells of the cathedral and the footsteps of the Orthodox monks heading to mass; the muezzin invites the devout Muslim to pray; these sounds are emblematic of the harmony that rules the city between the four main religions, each of which has venues fit for their respective needs.
The Birth and Growth of Asmara
Groups of shepherds from the Akele Guzay area settled in the area in the 12th century and established four villages, so colonizing today’s Asmara. The settlement grew gradually in size but became a significant trading station in a short period. Ras Aula became the capital and hub of a thriving caravan trade toward the end of the 19th century; in 1884 Asmara already had more than 2,000 residents. Under the direction of the Italian general Baldissera, the army occupied the city in 1889; in 1897 the center became the capital of the Italian Empire of East Africa; before major architectural and urban planning activities were conducted there during the fascist era. Asmara was the last city freed during the independence fight; the EPL (Eritrean People’s Liberation Front) has besieged it since 1990.
Asmara was rebuilt under a strict urban plan and split into four main sections headed by the administrative center, which includes Liberation Ave. and the area immediately to the north, much as many other colonial cities. From the city center to the Eritrean area, the Italian residential neighborhood to the south stretches where one may view many art deco villas. Little outside the city limits, in the northeast, is the neighborhood of the local population, living in the poorest part of the urban agglomeration, within neighborhoods most of which are never even seen by visitors.
Asmara’s Architectural Marvels
Asmara’s varied collection of buildings is its primary appeal. Beginning on foot from the western end of Liberation Avenue and working east, you reach the Cinema Impero; first, you should stop in front of the old opera house, constructed close to the telecommunications building. Designed by Cavagnari about 1920, the theater is among the most sophisticated twentieth-century complexes in Asmara. It has a Renaissance fountain in the form of a comb shell, a Romanesque style porticle supported by classical columns, and, inside, several orders above boxes, a magnificent art nouveau ceiling painted by Saverio Fresa. The Ministry of Education, a 1930s structure constructed as the Casa del Fascio, combines the classical with the monumental and fascist forms. Next door is
You keep east and find the 1923 consecrated Catholic cathedral, regarded as one of the most exquisite Romanesque-Lombard-style churches outside of Italy. Carrara marble makes up the altar; fine Italian walnut wood is carved on the baptismary, confessionals, and pulpit. Though it is seen from every side of the center, the small Gothic-style bell tower is a great point of reference. It also shows a panoramic perspective that would allow visitors who choose to climb to the top great emotional experience. Once you at last reach the Cinema Impero and the Bar Impero, which are part of a grand rationalist terrace constructed in 1938, you will enter a cavernous auditorium fit for over 1,800 people, ornamented with art deco-style motifs illustrating lions, nyalas, and palm trees.
Exploring Asmara’s Markets and Local Life
Among Asmara’s other attractions, the energetic city market—held every morning, except Sunday, in the neighborhood south of Menelik Avenue—stands out. The market area called Medebar, where the wind carries with it the sounds of hammers, saws, and knives; old tires are worked until they become footwear; and the corrugated sheet metal is flattened and shaped to form metal buckets; the market looks like a huge open-air laboratory where everything is recycled and nothing is thrown away. The souvenir market is also not missed; far more fascinating than most stores in the center, it offers wooden masks, musical instruments, knives, paintings on leather, and decorated pumpkins.
What is the best time of the year to visit Asmara?
Though situated at over 2,300 meters above sea level, the temperature is hot and dry—not as much as one would expect from a city not far from the desert. Though the maximum temperatures are on average higher between March and May, when the sky is clear and the sun warms the earth, temperatures fluctuate on average between 22 and 4 degrees in January, the coldest month of the year, and between 21 and 11 in July and August. Actually, most of the annual rainfall in the city is concentrated in July and August, bathed yearly by almost 500 mm of rain, of which over 350 falls in these 60 days.
Asmara International Airport, which can also be readily reached from Europe and whose passenger traffic is steadily rising, is six kilometers southwest of the center. Currently the only railway line running in Eritrea, the railway station marks the end of the path to Massua. While visiting the surrounds is handy to rent a car, you can get about the city on foot.
