The emperor's room
Canopied bed and gilded lion.
Sailko — CC BY 3.0 · Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — CC BY 2.0 · Sailko — CC BY 3.0 · Sailko — CC BY 3.0 · Sailko — CC BY 3.0
The Ethnological Museum is a museum of Ethiopia's peoples and cultures on the main campus of Addis Ababa University, and the country's first university museum. It occupies the building of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, about 1 km in a straight line from the National Museum of Ethiopia. The museum was founded in 1950, starting from old collections of zoological specimens and ethnographic objects, on the initiative of Stanislaw Chojnacki, then chief librarian of the University College. It is housed in the Guenete Leul Palace, «Paradise of Princes», built by Emperor Haile Selassie between 1930 and 1932 as his family's residence and later given to the university. Its sections hold anthropological, musical and art collections, along with stamps and coins. The building keeps the emperor's private rooms, including the bedroom with its canopied bed and a gilded lion, and a bathroom of blue fittings and marble. Long corridors with red carpets run through the floors, and the halls have wooden floors and glass display cases. The museum sits inside a working university campus, so follow the entry rules at the gate. Check opening times and photography rules, and allow one to two hours.
Canopied bed and gilded lion.
Objects from Ethiopia's peoples.
Red carpets and columns.
Addis Ababa University main campus, Sidist Kilo, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
On Addis Ababa University's main campus, in the Guenete Leul Palace.
One to two hours to see the halls.
