The Stone of Adwa
Who made the huge stone effigy of the Duce? By Alberto Alpozzi T he first article that described the huge monument, about 15 feet tall, in the likeness of the head of the Duce, was published on February 14, 1936 on the Italian daily newspaper La Nazione ; but the first picture of the effigy of Benito Mussolini, built near Adwa, Ethiopia, in 1935, appeared on the cover of the February 16, 1936 issue of the magazine L’Illustrazione Italiana” with the following caption: “In the basin of Adwa, in front of Mount Sulloda, a great effigy of the Duce was sculpted in a hard stone boulder. It is an anonymous work of artist-soldiers who wished to leave the most expressive mark of their passion, a reminder of their distant Fatherland, as an exhortation and a good auspice for fighters and colonizers.” The head of Benito Mussolini was carved as a massive and powerful, but at the same time realistic figure. This ne...