Asmara exhibition

If architectural pilgrimage is your preferred holiday sport, and you can’t resist a bit of experimentation off the beaten track, then Asmara would tick all the boxes for you. Hidden high in East Africa’s mountains, this modernism aficionado’s dream city was created in the 1930s by Italian architects called to design their own home away from home in Eritrea according to Benito Mussolini’s vision of an Italian Empire in Africa. Free from restrictions, they produced an amazing range of work, from Fiat Taglieri service station’s monumental geometry and Selam Hotel’s pure Rationalism to Cinema Odeon’s Art Deco bar and even neo-classicist examples.

Today Asmara is one of the largest constellations of Modern architecture in the world. It is the capital of one of Africa’s youngest countries (declared independent only in 1991), hosts over 400 listed buildings mostly in variations of art deco and modernist-influenced styles, and is currently being considered for UNESCO World Heritage Status.

These unique buildings and extensive views of Asmara’s 30s-chic architectural heritage are being shown in the ‘Asmara – Africa’s Secret Modernist City’ exhibition at the RIBA this summer, sponsored by the World Monuments Fund (WMF) in Britain; all based on the book of the same name by Edward Denison, Guang Yu Ren and Naigzy Gebremedhin (Merrell, reviewed in W*65). Even if a trip to Eritrea’s ‘Little Rome’ has already earned a spot in your future travel plans, this show must not be missed.

Click here to view gallery.

6 August 2007 | Architecture