Visiting Aksum: obelisks and ancient history
A guide to Aksum (Axum) — the granite stelae, the Church of St Mary of Zion, and the Queen of Sheba legend.
Aksum was the capital of a trading empire that, at its height, ranked among the great powers of the ancient world — minting its own coins and reaching across the Red Sea. What remains today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the spiritual centre of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity.
The stelae
The Northern Stelae Field is dominated by towering carved granite obelisks that once marked royal tombs. The tallest still standing rises around 24 metres; the greatest of all, now fallen, would have been taller still. One obelisk, looted during the Italian occupation, was returned from Rome in 2005 and re-erected here.
Churches and legend
- The Church of St Mary of Zion is, by Ethiopian Orthodox tradition, the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant — kept in a guarded chapel and never shown to the public.
- Nearby ruins are known locally as the Queen of Sheba’s Palace, tying the town to one of the region’s most enduring legends.
A day is enough to see the main sites, though the history rewards a guide. Aksum sits in the far north, in Tigray. Find places to stay in Aksum near the stelae fields.