"Designed by the Italian architect Arturo Mezzedimi, Addis Ababa's Africa Hall quickly became recognised as one of the defining achievements of African modernism on its completion in 1961. In 1963, it hosted the founding meeting of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the precursor to today's African Union. Africa was then emerging from centuries of colonial rule, and many of the OAU's founders including Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt had led their nations to independence."
"Only a few years ago, the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie said at the time, meetings to consider African problems were held outside Africa, and the fate of its peoples were decided by non-Africans. Today the peoples of Africa can, at long last, deliberate on their own problems and future. Mezzedimi's design emanated a spirit of optimism, embodying functional clarity and spatial openness, sitting in a garden landscape with expansive views over Addis Ababa."
Addis Ababa's Africa Hall, designed by Italian architect Arturo Mezzedimi and completed in 1961, became a defining example of African modernism. The building hosted the 1963 founding meeting of the Organisation of African Unity as African nations emerged from colonial rule under leaders like Kwame Nkrumah and Gamal Abdel Nasser. Commissioned by Emperor Haile Selassie to embody a unifying continental vision, the hall features a horseshoe-shaped plenary crowned by a vast rotunda, Carrara marble, Ethiopian stone and custom furniture. Artworks include a 40-metre mural by Nenne Sanguineti Poggi and Afewerk Tekle's monumental stained-glass triptych, Total Liberation of Africa.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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