Eritrea is now a country but was once part of the Italian Kingdom, starting in 1889. It was a favorite staging area for the Italian Kingdom and later part of Mussolini's Italian East Africa.
But I bring this up because I was bumbling around the UNESCO World Heritage List yesterday - wandering down the rathole that is the Internet. The internet does bring out the horrible side of life, but also helps you find just weird things.
Amara, Eritrea's capital, was made the colonial capital and is now the nation's capital. Amara was planned and expanded during Italian rule. This happened in the 1930s, and the architecture shows it. It is referred to as "Modern" although in America we would call it "streamlined" or "art deco."
You cannot visit Eritrea as it is pretty damned tough to get into (or even arrive) because the government is isolationist and particularly riled up about Ethiopia - which did take over after WWII. Anyway, the architecture can't really be seen now except through pictures. I think I would like to go some time, if I could, and see much of eastern Africa at the same time.
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| This could be in LA. |
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