• Lion of Judah (Legahar) • On May 21, 1937, in Rome, Italy was celebrating its fourth anniversary of the proclamation of the Italian Empire. The celebratory parade was attended by Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and king Victor Emmanuel III. Thousands of soldiers from Italy's African colonies marched during the parade. Among them was Zerai Deres. He was carrying the sword to salute the king, the Fuhrer, and II Duce, at the grandstand. As the parade marched past the Vittorio Emanuele, he saw Lion of Judah Monument. Zerai's shock was too great for him, and he drew his sword and with it he slew 5 fascist guards as well as wounding others, before he was killed on the spot in a hail of gunshots. He is considered a folk hero in both Ethiopia and Eritrea.
• Lion of Judah (National Theatre) • In 1955, around the time when this statute was built, many changes were taking place in the world. The civil rights movement in the United States among one of them, while Ethiopia revised its 1931 constitution and adopted a new one. This monument was commissioned by Emperor Haileselasae to showcase Ethiopia's modernisation effort and its openness to progressive ideas.
The statue is 10 meter long and composed of several relatively small dressed black stones. It is a styled representation of a lion wearing a crown and looking eastward. The lion's eerily long neck, its raised head with its right paw resting in a pedestal and the tail hanging to the base, appear to convey dignity and power. The statue was designed by a French sculptor Maurice Calka. Located outside the public garden of the National Theater, this modern sculpture is a powerful symbol of modernity through art.
• Emperor Menilik II •
The sculpture Carl August (German) was hired by Emperor Menilik but later commissioned by his daughter, Empress Zewditu in 1928. The statue depicts her father riding his famed horse 'Abba Dagnew'. It commemorates her father's victory at the battle of Adwa.
The work was cast in Germany and shipped to Ethiopia. The monumental free-standing equestrian statue was cast in Bronze and was quite costly. The emperor grasps two spears in his right hand while confidently seated on his rearing horse. The emperor bears medals on the left breast of his jacket and the horse wears the traditional Ethiopian livery.
The monument was unveiled in March of 1930 by Emperor Haileselasae, only a month after Empress Zewditu's death. In 1936, after the second Italian invasion, Benito Mussolini ordered the statue removed. It was kept in a secret location throughout the five-year occupation. At the end of the occupation (1941) the statue was restored to its original site across from St. George church, where it stands today.
