Asmara is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people. At an elevation of over 2,000 meters (7000 ft), Asmara is on the edge of an escarpment that is both the northwestern edge of the Great Rift Valley and of the Eritrean highlands. Textiles and clothing, processed meat, beer, shoes, and ceramics are the major industrial products. Asmara started with four villages, to being a regional center under Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia, to "Little Rome" of Mussolini's unsuccessful second Roman Empire, to being a provincial capital under Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia and lastly a national capital of Eritrea.
Asmara grew from four villages founded in the twelfth century. Originally, it is said, there
were four clans living in the Asmara area on the Kebessa Plateau: Gheza Gurtom, Gheza
Shelele, Gheza Serenser and Gheza Asmae. Encouraged by their women, the men united
the four clans and defeated the bandits who preyed on the area. After the victory, a new
name was given to the place, Arbaete Asmera which literally means, in the Tigrinya
language, the four (female plural) united. Eventually Arbaete was dropped and it has been
called Asmera, though there is still a zone called Arbaete Asmera
The missionary Remedius Prutky passed through Asmara in 1751, and described in his
memoirs that a church built there by Jesuit priests 130 years before was still intact.
Asmara undeniably acquired importance in 1881, when Ras Alula Engida whom Emperor
Yohannes IV of Ethiopia had appointed governor of the region founded a market in that
place. A few years later, in 1884, he moved his capital from Adi Taklay to Asmara and had
three stone buildings built to house his troops and serve as his banquet hall. About the
same time Ras Alula ordered all of the other markets in the Mareb Mellash province
closed (which included Sazega and Kudofelasi in modern Eritrea as well as Idaga Hamus
in Ethiopia), giving further economic stimulus to Asmara. The population grew from an
estimated 150 people in 1830 to 2,000 during Alula's governorship
During the Eritrean war for independence from Ethiopia, Asmara's airport became a key in
the conflict, as it was used by the Ethiopians to obtain arms and supplies from outside
supporters. The last town to fall to the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the Eritrean
War of Independence, it was besieged in 1990 and was surrendered by Military of Ethiopia
troops without a fight on May 24, 1991. In Asmara the main language is Tigrinya. Italian
and English are widely spoken and understood
PLACE TO VISIT
Biet Ghiorghis Zoo and Park - area, famous for its scenery on the eastern escarpment. The Zoo in itself is a rather sad place. Further down the road one reaches Bar Durfo, a bar and café perched on a cliff overlooking the dramatic precipice of the Asmara - Massawa highway. You will need a car or taxi to get beyond the last stop of the No. 1 bus beyond Biet Ghiorghis to Bar Durfo.
Nyala Hotel - one has a great view of the city and a nice well chilled beer. The beer is
exceptionally good in Asmara, aptly called "Asmara Beer"
Martyrs National Park - inaugurated in 2000. It is a mountaineous forest and wildife preserve at the ridge of the highland plateau. The views and scenery are spectacular, the horizon features chasms, gorges and mountaintops bathed by a sea of clouds attesting to the fact that one is very high up literally "above the clouds". Tselot can be reached by one of the city buses from a section of the marketplace called "Meda Eritrea". You should leave as early as possible because there are only a couple of buses per day so you have to make sure you have a way to get back.
Governor's Palace - in Asmara, Eritrea is an Italian neo-Romanesque building in the city centre. It was built in 1899 and was originally destined to be the Governor's Palace of Asmara. The building was designed by Fernando Martini. The Gibi as it is known was converted into a Museum of Asmara during the Ethiopian rule when the Governor's Palace was switched to the present building.
Cinema Impero - is a Art Deco style Cinema built by the Italians in Asmara, Eritrea and opened in 1937. The building still remains a cinema today, and is one of the finest examples of modernist architecture anywhere in the world. The Building is surprising almost exactly as it was in the 1930's. Most of the equipment and the seats are all original.
Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church - is an Oriental Orthodox church. It was formerly a part of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, its autocephaly reluctantly recognized by the Ethiopian Patriarchate after Eritrea gained its independence in 1993.
The Fiat Tagliero Building - in Asmara capital city of Eritrea, is a Futurist Style service station completed in 1938 and designed by the Italian architect Giuseppe Pettazzi.
From the beginning conceived as a simple petrol station, Pettazzi designed a building that resembles an aeroplane. It consists of a central tower which incorporates the office space and cashiers desk and shop. Either side of the main tower there are a pair of cantilever wings which are each 30m (100ft) in length. The wings are built in re-enforced concrete and are structurally unsupported. Because of law in Italy (and therefore Eritrea — an Italian colony) during the 1930s, the wings legally had to be supported, so on the technical drawings of the building there are wooden pillars which prop up the wings. The day before its inauguration, workers who completed the construction refused to remove the supports used during construction fearing the wings would collapse. Pettazzi settled the argument by climbing to the end of one of the wings and, holding a revolver to the main builder's head, threatened to kill him if they did not remove the supports. In the end the supports were removed and the wings held, just as they do today.
Roman Catholic Cathedral - of Asmara, Eritrea is a large Lombard- Romanesque style cathedral in the centre of the city that was built when Eritrea was an Italian colony. The building took six years to construct and was consecrated in 1922. Its tall gothic tower is loosely based on the one of Big Ben, the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, London. The tower rises 57 metres into the sky and it is possible to tour the tower and see fantastic views of the art deco city. On the cathedral site, there is also a primary school, a monastery, and a convent, all of which have existed since the initial construction of the cathedral.
University of Asmara - (UoA) was Eritrea's first university and is located in the capital city, Asmara. It was created by the Piae Madres Nigritiae (Camboni Sisters). The school was meant to provide for the local population, though its initial enrollment was entirely Italian
HOW TO REACH
Asmara International Airport Asmara currently hosts the country's only operating international airport although technically there are two more in Massawa and Assab. Currently (2007) served from Frankfurt three times weekly by Lufthansa and twice weekly by Eritrean Airlines, from Sanaa in Yemen twice weekly by Yemenia Airways, from Cairo twice weekly by Egyptair, from Jeddah/Riyadh twice weekly by Saudi Arabian Airlines and twice weekly by Eritrean Airlines as well. Eritrean Airlines also flies twice weekly to/from Dubai, Djibouti and once weekly to Rome with scheduled dates to Milan as well.
Nasair, a private-state joint venture airline also serves Nairobi and Khartoum twice weekly from Asmara as well as domestic routes Asmara - Massawa and Asmara - Assab. There is an airport departure tax of $20 or 15 Euros. If you're coming on camel-back, you should probably give the camel a good parting gift for climbing all those hills for you (the city is up on 2600 meters above sea level, ie more than 8000 feet).
