Menelik palace

Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, has a grand complex known as the Menelik Palace. For many years, it was referred to as the Gebi and served as Ethiopia's imperial capital. Numerous residences, halls, chapels, and office buildings can be found inside its boundaries.

Over a century old, it is a magnificent cultural legacy that showcases the level of art and design that Ethiopians attained at the time.

THINGS TO DO AT MENELIK PALACE:

Learn about the fascinating past of the site:

Emperor Menelik II prayed for God's blessing in the tiny room at the top of the building as he significantly expanded Ethiopia's territory in the closing years of the 19th century. He could observe his subjects on the wide plain beneath its windows from the watchtower, as this palace wing is known.

Menelik established the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa here in 1886.

He constructed a magnificent palace on a hilltop that served as the center of every regime that came after him through wars and revolutions.

Five successive governments, including two more emperors and a communist regime, would rule this nation from the same palace, planning much of its tragic past there.

Explore the various rooms and things housed there:

Menelik II's office, bedroom, and reception room are all included in this complex, along with the princes' bedrooms, the Council of Ministers, and a small banquet hall. Etege Taytu Betul's bedroom, the Minister of War's waiting room, and the Emperor's private prayer room are also included.

This structure also received the first telephone ever installed in the nation.

Embrace the regal elements of the old world antiquity:

In addition to the palace itself, the location features two sleeping black-maned Abyssinian lions, a botanical garden, state-of-the-art galleries that depict Ethiopian history, a pavilion with exhibits on the country's nine regions, and modern galleries.

Study the objects for deeper insights into the newly opened museum at the palace:

A wax replica of the Emperor sits on his authentic, hand-carved throne and surveys the landscape Platters and glasses from the era are preserved in cases along the wall in the banquet hall where he once hosted feasts.