Addis Ababa, August 6, 2024 (FBC) – The Adwa Victory Memorial Museum erected in the center of Addis Ababa is a living heritage that reminds the sacrifices paid for the independence of black people across the globe, foreign scholars who visited the museum said.
More that 240 researchers invited from 34 countries to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of Lucy have visited historical sites, including the Adwa Memorial Museum, in Addis Ababa.
Professor Charles M. Musiba, a paleontologist from Duke University in the US, said the victory of Adwa is a shared history and symbol of pride not only for Ethiopia but the entire Africa.
In addition to its symbolic values to Ethiopia’s pride and freedom, the victory of Adwa is a crucial event that paved ways for the independence of African countries from the yoke of colonialism in the 1960s, the professor added.
Therefore, the memorial museum is a permanent heritage and huge tourism asset, to remember the grand history and enhance Ethiopia’s tourism.
“The one who writes the history is the one who dictates the future, and Adwa is one of these unique places in which Africans basically can be proud of not only for Ethiopia but the entire continent because that is where the resistance to colonialism plundering of Africa was actually stopped.”
Professor Musiba further stressed that the museum preserves the history of Adwa in a way that every African child should come and learn from what happened.
The discoverer of Lucy 50 years ago, Professor Donald Johanson stated that Ethiopians built the Adwa Victory Memorial Museum to commemorate their struggle and golden victory against colonialism.
All Africans should visit this place to properly grasp the greatness of this historical event and its shared values, Professor Johanson stressed.
“Historical museums like this one are very important for every Ethiopian to know more about their ancestors and their own history. People from all over Africa, should come and see this and learn more about what Ethiopia is, how they struggled, how they survived and how they became the only country that had never been colonized. This is important lesson for people all over Africa.”
According to S. Christopher from the National Museum of Uganda, the Adwa Victory Memorial Museum is a great historical event that helped pan-African philosophy to flourish across the globe.
For the Tanzanian anthropologist, Professor Jackson Njau the museum is a living testament to demonstrate the struggle of African forefathers for their independence.
“The inspiring museum reminds us, especially the new generation, about the struggles that the fathers and grandfathers of Africans fought for the continent. This museum inspires not only Ethiopians but the entire Africans.”
The victory of Adwa paved the way for the independence of many African countries, the Tanzanian anthropologist added.
This history was written by the winners of the war which are Ethiopians he stated, stressing the need “to write our history by our own. We should not let other people to write our history.”
University of Liverpool senior researcher, Ignacio Lasagabaster described the Adwa Victory Memorial Museum as a state of the art facility that depicts the history of Adwa, inviting everybody specially tourists to visit the place, as called by ENA.