Category:Aksum Stele n. 2 (Obelisk of Axum-Roma) in Rome

English: The Obelisk of Axum (today, especially in Axum, also called the Rome Stele) is a 1,700-year-old, 24-metres (78-foot) tall granite stele / obelisk. It is decorated with two false doors at the base, and decorations resembling windows on all sides. The obelisk was carved and erected (with many other stelae) in the city of Axum (in modern-day Ethiopia), probably during the 4th century A.D. by subjects of the Kingdom of Aksum, an ancient Ethiopian civilization. The obelisk of Axum collapsed and broke into three pieces. In these conditions, it was found by Italians soldiers at the end of 1935, after the Italian conquest of Ethiopia. In 1937, it was moved to Rome by the Fascist regime, where it was reassembled and placed on October 28, 1937 in Porta Capena square in front of the Ministry for Italian Africa (later the headquarters of the United Nations's Food and Agriculture Organization) and the Circus Maximus. In a 1947 UN agreement, Italy agreed to return the stele to Ethiopia. But little action was taken to return the stele for more than 50 years. The repatriation project encountered a series of obstacles. At last the dismantled stele remained sitting in a warehouse near Rome's Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport. In April 2005 the three pieces was repatriated by use of an Antonov An-124, amidst much local celebration. The stele remained in storage while Ethiopia decided how to reconstruct it without disturbing other ancient treasures still in the area (especially King Ezana's Stele). Reassembly began in June 2008, with a team chosen by UNESCO and led by engineer Giorgio Croci (who had also surveyed its dismantling in 2003) and the monument was resurrected in its original home and unveiled on 4 September 2008.