Meskel Square - History of The Square

History of The Square

Traditionally, the Meskel bonfire in Addis Ababa was lit by the Emperor of Ethiopia accompanied by members of the Imperial family, the nobility and high officials of the Orthodox Church and the government. The bonfire was initially lit in the square near the southern gate of St George's Cathedral during the reigns of Emperor Menelik II and Empress Zewditu, but was moved to its present location in the specifically constructed Meskel Square by Emperor Haile Selassie.

Following the fall of the monarchy in 1974, Meskel Square was renamed "Abiot" or Revolution Square. It was greatly expanded so that it could accommodate the annual Revolution Day and May Day parades on September 12 and May 1. Three gigantic portraits of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin were erected in the square. The population of Addis Ababa would joke that these were the "new trinity". Meskel bonfires continued to be lit there however for a number of years, with the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church lighting the bonfire in place of the Emperor. Between 1988 and 1991, the officially atheist government ordered the Meskel celebration to be moved back to the small square outside the southern gates of St. George Cathedral. After the fall of Mengistu Haile Mariam, the short lived government of General Tesfaye Gebre Kidan restored the original name of Meskel Square, and the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front government returned the Meskel celebration to the square.

The square is often used for other secular purposes. Concerts, parades, and various other government and public events are held there. Political parties often hold rallies in the square. Part of the public ceremonies surrounding the re-burial of Emperor Haile Selassie took place in the square as well. The annual "Great Ethiopian Run" passes through Meskel Square. The national monument in memory of those massacred by the Derg regime in the "Red Terror" of the 1970s has been built at the eastern entrance to the square, and the remains of many victims from that period have been buried there : the Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum has been inaugurated in February 2010.