National Museum: Addis Ababa

The small National Museum is located at Han St / Kilo crossroads, just north of St Mary's Church. Guides are the only real source of information, since the exhibits are poorly labelled,

but they vary in standard. The exhibits are varied, and include Lucy; the female fossil skeleton found in northeast Ethiopia in 1974, believed to be about three and a half million years old. The museum has an extensive collection of artifacts, some predating the Axumite civilization of Tigre. It also includes a selection of the more than 200 designs of crosses found in Ethiopia. It is open from 0830-1230 and 1330-1730.

The national museum, in most senses, is a well-kept secret. Few people know the wealth of information, displays, artifacts and invaluable arts it houses. So, it is not a surprise that in any given day, one can enjoy the whole museum alone or with as few as two or three other visitors.

At the basement, the museum houses such unique displays as Lucy - Dinqinesh's 3.5 million year old fossilized skeleton. This is a very unusual experience by itself - coming face to face with vivid remains of a humanoid that lived millions of years ago! Only fifty meters or so away from the museum, modern humanity goes about its life and ways with little time to pause and think about the past.

The first floor houses artifacts, sculptures, dresses, tablets, etc from all corners of Ethiopia; some of them dating to the early days of human civilization. Scripts on tablets of thousands of years of age give one a perspective of looking at the origins of the Ethiopic Feedel right in the face. The war and ceremonial dresses, thrones, and accessories of historical figures also adorn the first floor.