• 001 - the logo.jpg
  • 002 - Hiroshima sunset.jpg
  • 003 - Auschwitz-Birkenau ramp.jpg
  • 004 - Chernobyl contamination.jpg
  • 005 - Darvaza flaming gas crater.jpg
  • 006 - Berlin Wall madness.jpg
  • 007 - Bulgaria - monument at the bottom of Buzludzhy park hill.jpg
  • 008 - Ijen crater.jpg
  • 009 - Aralsk, Kazakhstan.jpg
  • 010 - Paris catacombs.jpg
  • 011 - Krakatoa.jpg
  • 012 - Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, Hanoi.jpg
  • 013 - Uyuni.jpg
  • 014 - DMZ Vietnam.jpg
  • 015 - Colditz Kopie.jpg
  • 016 - Glasgow Necropolis.jpg
  • 017 - Hashima ghost island.jpg
  • 018 - Kazakhstan.jpg
  • 019 - Arlington.jpg
  • 020 - Karosta prison.jpg
  • 021 - Kamikaze.jpg
  • 022 - Chacabuco ghost town.jpg
  • 023 - Eagle's Nest, Obersalzberg, Berchtesgaden.jpg
  • 024 - Kursk.jpg
  • 025 - Bran castle, Carpathia, Romania.jpg
  • 026 - Bestattungsmuseum Wien.jpg
  • 027 - Pripyat near Chernobyl.jpg
  • 028 - Sedlec ossuary, Czech Republic.jpg
  • 029 - Pyramida Lenin.jpg
  • 030 - Falklands.jpg
  • 031 - Majdanek.jpg
  • 032 - Soufriere volcano, Montserrat.jpg
  • 033 - moai on Easter Island.jpg
  • 034 - Sidoarjo.jpg
  • 035 - Hötensleben.jpg
  • 036 - Natzweiler.jpg
  • 037 - Polygon, Semipalatinsk test site, Kazakhstan.jpg
  • 038 - Srebrenica.jpg
  • 039 - Liepaja, Latvia.jpg
  • 040 - Vemork hydroelectric power plant building, Norway.jpg
  • 041 - Enola Gay.jpg
  • 042 - Pentagon 9-11 memorial.jpg
  • 043 - Robben Island prison, South Africa.jpg
  • 044 - Tollund man.jpg
  • 045 - Marienthal tunnel.jpg
  • 046 - Aso, Japan.jpg
  • 047 - Labrador battery Singapore.jpg
  • 048 - Artyom island, Absheron, Azerbaijan.jpg
  • 049 - Treblinka.jpg
  • 050 - Titan II silo.jpg
  • 051 - dosemetering doll, Chernobyl.jpg
  • 052 - Holocaust memorial, Berlin.jpg
  • 053 - Komodo dragon.jpg
  • 054 - cemeterio general, Santiago de Chile.jpg
  • 055 - Tuol Sleng, Phnom Phen, Cambodia.jpg
  • 056 - West Virginia penitentiary.jpg
  • 057 - ovens, Dachau.jpg
  • 058 - Derry, Northern Ireland.jpg
  • 059 - Bulgaria - Buzludzha - workers of all countries unite.jpg
  • 060 - Sachsenhausen.jpg
  • 061 - Tiraspol dom sovietov.jpg
  • 062 - modern-day Pompeii - Plymouth, Montserrat.jpg
  • 063 - Pico de Fogo.jpg
  • 064 - Trinity Day.jpg
  • 065 - Zwentendorf control room.jpg
  • 066 - Wolfschanze.jpg
  • 067 - Hiroshima by night.jpg
  • 068 - mass games, North Korea.jpg
  • 069 - Harrisburg.jpg
  • 070 - Nuremberg.jpg
  • 071 - Mostar.jpg
  • 072 - Tu-22, Riga aviation museum.jpg
  • 073 - Gallipoli, Lone Pine.jpg
  • 074 - Auschwitz-Birkenau - fence.jpg
  • 075 - Darvaza flaming gas crater.jpg
  • 076 - Atatürk Mausoleum, Ankara.jpg
  • 077 - Banda Aceh boats.jpg
  • 078 - AMARG.jpg
  • 079 - Chacabuco ruins.jpg
  • 080 - Bucharest.jpg
  • 081 - Bernauer Straße.jpg
  • 082 - Death Railway, Thailand.jpg
  • 083 - Mandor killing fields.jpg
  • 084 - Kozloduy.jpg
  • 085 - Jerusalem.jpg
  • 086 - Latin Bridge, Sarajevo.jpg
  • 087 - Panmunjom, DMZ, Korea.jpg
  • 088 - Ijen blue flames.jpg
  • 089 - Derry reconsilliation monument.jpg
  • 090 - Ebensee.jpg
  • 091 - Mödlareuth barbed wire.jpg
  • 092 - skull heaps in Sedlec ossuary, Czech Republic.jpg
  • 093 - Nikel.jpg
  • 094 - Fukushima-Daiichi NPP.jpg
  • 095 - Tital launch control centre.jpg
  • 096 - Dallas Dealy Plaza and Sixth Floor Museum.jpg
  • 097 - Auschwitz I.jpg
  • 098 - Stalin and Lenin, Tirana, Albania.jpg
  • 099 - Malta, Fort St Elmo.jpg
  • 100 - Peenemünde.jpg
  • 101 - Tarrafal.jpg
  • 102 - Kilmainham prison, Dublin.jpg
  • 103 - North Korea.jpg
  • 104 - Mittelbau-Dora.jpg
  • 105 - St Helena.jpg
  • 106 - Stutthof, Poland.jpg
  • 107 - Merapi destruction.jpg
  • 108 - Chueung Ek killing fields, Cambodia.jpg
  • 109 - Marienborn former GDR border.jpg
  • 110 - Mig and star, Kazakhstan.jpg
  • 111 - Nagasaki WWII tunnels.jpg
  • 112 - Hellfire Pass, Thailand.jpg
  • 113 - Kiev.jpg
  • 114 - Grutas Park, Lithuania.jpg
  • 115 - Zwentendorf reactor core.jpg
  • 116 - two occupations, Tallinn.jpg
  • 117 - Trunyan burial site.jpg
  • 118 - Ushuaia prison.jpg
  • 119 - Buchenwald.jpg
  • 120 - Marienthal with ghost.jpg
  • 121 - Murmansk harbour - with an aircraft carrier.jpg
  • 122 - Berlin Olympiastadion.JPG
  • 123 - Bastille Day, Paris.jpg
  • 124 - Spassk.jpg
  • 125 - Theresienstadt.jpg
  • 126 - B-52s.jpg
  • 127 - Bledug Kuwu.jpg
  • 128 - Friedhof der Namenlosen, Vienna.jpg
  • 129 - Auschwitz-Birkenau barracks.jpg
  • 130 - mummies, Bolivia.jpg
  • 131 - Barringer meteor crater.jpg
  • 132 - Murambi, Rwanda.jpg
  • 133 - NTS.jpg
  • 134 - Mauthausen Soviet monument.jpg
  • 135 - pullution, Kazakhstan.JPG
  • 136 - palm oil madness.jpg
  • 137 - Berlin socialist realism.jpg
  • 138 - Okawa school building ruin.jpg
  • 139 - Pawiak, Warsaw.jpg
  • 140 - flying death, military museum Dresden.JPG
  • 141 - KGB gear.JPG
  • 142 - KZ jacket.JPG
  • 143 - ex-USSR.JPG
  • 144 - Indonesia fruit bats.JPG
  • 145 - Alcatraz.JPG
  • 146 - Chernobyl Museum, Kiev, Ukraine.JPG
  • 147 - Halemaumau lava lake glow, Hawaii.JPG
  • 148 - Rosinenbomber at Tempelhof, Berlin.jpg
  • 149 - Verdun, France.JPG
  • 150 - hospital, Vukovar, Croatia.JPG
  • 151 - the original tomb of Napoleon, St Helena.JPG
  • 152 - Buchenwald, Germany.JPG
  • 153 - Bhopal.JPG
  • 154 - Groß-Rosen, Poland.jpg
  • 155 - at Monino, Russia.jpg
  • 156 - blinking Komodo.jpg
  • 157 - inside Chernobyl NPP.JPG
  • 158 - Mount St Helens, USA.JPG
  • 159 - Maly Trostenec, Minsk, Belarus.jpg
  • 160 - Vucedol skulls, Croatia.JPG
  • 161 - colourful WW1 shells.JPG
  • 162 - Zeljava airbase in Croatia.JPG
  • 163 - rusting wrecks, Chernobyl.JPG
  • 164 - San Bernadine alle Ossa, Milan, Italy.jpg
  • 165 - USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.JPG
  • 166 - Brest Fortress, Belarus.JPG
  • 167 - thousands of bats, Dom Rep.JPG
  • 168 - Hohenschönhausen, Berlin.JPG
  • 169 - Perm-36 gulag site.JPG
  • 170 - Jasenovac, Croatia.JPG
  • 171 - Beelitz Heilstätten.JPG
  • 172 - Kremlin, Moscow.jpg
  • 173 - old arms factory, Dubnica.JPG
  • 174 - Pervomaisc ICBM base, more  missiles, including an SS-18 Satan.jpg
  • 175 - Cellular Jail, Port Blair.jpg
  • 177 - control room, Chernobyl NPP.JPG
  • 178 - Podgorica, Montenegro, small arms and light weapons sculpture.jpg
  • 179 - Vught.jpg
  • 180 - Japanese cave East Timor.jpg
  • 181 - Ani.jpg
  • 182 - Indonesia wildfire.jpg
  • 183 - Chacabuco big sky.jpg
  • 184 - Bunker Valentin, Germany.JPG
  • 185 - Lest we Forget, Ypres.JPG
  • 186 - the logo again.jpg

Tiglachin Monument

  
 2Stars10px  - darkometer rating: 4 -
   
the elusive Derg MonumentAlso known simply as the “Derg Monument”, this is a monumental complex in the heart of Ethiopia’s capital city Addis Ababa that was constructed during the Derg regime days (cf. Red Terror Museum) and celebrates in particular the Cuban-Ethiopian friendship – or rather Cuba’s military support in the late 1970s conflict with Somalia. It’s a classic socialist glorifying design, to which even North Korea contributed!
More background info: The monument was erected in 1984, ten years after the overthrow of emperor Haile Selassie by the Derg (see under Ethiopia, Red Terror Museum and Trinity Cathedral) – and while it does celebrate this in typical socialist-realist and symbolic fashion, the main point of the monument is to honour the Cuban fighters that came to the support of Ethiopia in the Ogaden War of 1977--1978. This was started by an offensive by Somali troops who invaded the disputed region, but with the help of Soviet and Cuban military aid and soldiers, Ethiopia managed to win in this conflict.
  
Hence the other, and more explicit purpose of the monument is that of a Cuba-Ethiopian Friendship memorial – as a marble stone outside the fence clearly spells out in three languages (Amharic, Spanish and English).
  
The statuary parts of the monument complex were supplied by the Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang, North Korea, i.e. another communist “brother state”. And it shows in style! This fact is perhaps slightly less remarkable if you know that North Korea has contributed a number of grand monuments elsewhere in Africa even much later – such as the African Renaissance Monument in Dakar, Senegal, or the Independence Monument in Windhoek, Namibia.
  
In any case this is a remarkable relic of the Derg years, and indeed it’s no small wonder it survived – certainly the biggest and most visible trace left of that period of history.
  
  
What there is to see: The main element is a tall column, 50m high (160 feet) crowned by a red star. Two thirds up the column an oversize replica military medal is attached involving the obligatory hammer-and-sickle emblem. At the bottom of the column, atop a marble plinth, stands a group of sculptures that seem to have marched right out of North Korea (there’s a reason for it – see above!).
  
This is flanked by two large flag-shaped bas-reliefs depicting various scenes, such as peasants, workers, revolutionary meetings and, of course, military scenes. This too is very North-Korean in character (even more so than the sculptures). In addition there are two panels with photos of Cuban “martyrs”, i.e. soldiers from the Cuban military support troops who perished in the Ogaden War.
  
The main column can be seen from far away, but to get close you have to get through the fence and up some steps … and that is no longer so easy, as I found out when I visited the site as part of a city tour of Addis in early January 2020. I had read in older accounts that the site would be largely abandoned and unmaintained, but when I got there I found it staffed by very eager guards and a manager who immediately stopped me photographing (the little photo above is the only quick shot I managed to get in from outside the fence). They said no photography was allowed inside the complex – but in fact even from outside it, as they made clear next. My guide and I tried to argue but to no avail. My guide surmised that the reason for the restriction was that they wanted to sell pictures or even a video of the site. But I don’t know. After I was told that at best mobile phone photos were permissible but I had to leave my pro camera in the car if wanted to go inside the fenced area, I declined and said “no, in that case just no”. So at least they didn’t manage to squeeze money out of me. In hindsight I somewhat regret not having gone to see the artwork close up, but I just found the whole aggressive atmosphere too off-putting at the time.
  
Now I wonder what had brought about such a change – from unloved, unmaintained and unguarded old reminder of the Derg regime that people would rather forget about (as is very much the case elsewhere in the city), to this ultra-protective and restrictive approach. I also wonder who actually owns the site and whether this whole regime is really legit. Or could it still be some Cuban influence? Unlikely, but you never know.
  
  
Location: on the western side of Churchill Avenue between Zambia Street and Yared Street in the centre of Addis Ababa.
  
Google Maps locator: [9.0202, 38.75134]
  
  
Access and costs: easy enough to find, but no longer freely accessible, in fact quite restricted.
  
Details: as already described in the what there is to see section above, the site is now surprisingly protected and access tightly controlled. You can see the main column from the street any time, but to get behind the fence and walk up close you have to obey the strict rules imposed by the guys by the gate. And that mainly means: no (real) photography (with a camera, that is – phones are apparently tolerated, so if you can tolerate phones for photography you’ll be fine).
  
As far as I could tell, though, no admission fee as such was levied, but my guide made noises about a visit being followed by a hard sell …
  
Nor could I make out any opening times – none were advertised on the fence, so I guess you just have to take your chances. I’d say go mid-morning on a normal working day or Sunday (that’s when I was there).
  
  
Time required: not too long – either just a quick glance from outside the fence or maybe up to ten minutes if you go inside.
  
  
Combinations with other dark destinations: see under Addis Ababa, in particular the Red Terror Museum and Ethiopia in general.
  
   
Combinations with non-dark destinations: in general see under Addis Ababa - close by would be the National Palace in the park to the south-east of the monument, within easy walking distance.

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

© dark-tourism.com, Peter Hohenhaus 2009-2023

Cookies make it easier for us to provide you with our services. With the usage of our services you permit us to use cookies.
More information Ok