 A wide audience, made up of German cultural representatives, famous architects and journalists, students, representatives and responsibles of many associations concerned with the social struggle and civic society, together with Asper met in Frankfurt on February 8th 2007, for the ceremony of the opening exibition entitled:
"Africa secret modernist city"
The exibition, organised by the Architecture Museum of Frankfurt, takes its name from Mr Naizghi Grebremedhin, an Eritrean architect and scholar that thanks to his interesting exibition, gave a big contribution in the acknowledgement of architectural and town history of Asmara.
During the reception following the slides projection, all the participants could say something about the exibition, as well as express their appreciation for the technical value of the exibition and they could thank all the organising staff for giving such a cultural occasion.
Everybody whishes Asmara to be able to keep sustainable development policy, preserving at the same time all its architecural jewels and to be the example of a city on a human scale.
A common sense of worry came out from the fact that on the basis of Eritrea social and political situation, there is a bitter awareness that in a state which is not subject to the rule of law, the defense of culture and arts is dangerously difficult or even impossible.
We think about the recent demolitions that took place in Massawa, where the Turkish buildings, destroyed represented a part of its history and the wonderful villa Cyprea, even if it was built following the Italian Colonial period, was considered a small architectural masterpiece.
Some representatives of the Eritrean Embassy in Germany took part at the exibition; they were coming from Berlin, and some other from Frankfurt. They were not open to an exchange of opinions about this delicate subject, and they did not answer the questions asked by some representatives of the Eritrean diaspora.
The Italian responsible of ASPER, Mrs M. Daniela Avallone had an interesting discussion with the Italian consul spokesman, Mrs Rosamaria Chicco Ferraro. She could express the worries of the associations concerned in the defense of human rights for the supposed existence of underground secret prisons denounced by Amnesty International that are supposed to be the cellars of some of the most famous Italian buildings of the colonial period.
Frankfurt, 9th February 2007
Coordinamento Italiano per la Pace, la Democrazia e i Diritti Umani in Eritrea
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