Restoring Jimma Abajifar Palace

The U.S. Ambassador’s fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) in collaboration with the Ethiopian Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) funded the 347,000 dollars for the restoration of the Jimma Abajifar palace. The restoration will also support a team of timber craftsmen who will be trained and empowered to design and implement a maintenance plan. The crafts men are expected to care for the palace, and eventually other historical sites in Ethiopia, well into the future.
The restoration project supports a broader vision of creating a new cultural destination in the region that links the heritage of coffee, Aba Jiffar Palace, and Jimma into a broader context that reflects the extraordinary history, culture, and potential of this extraordinary part of Ethiopia.
At the launching of the program the Us Ambassador Mike Raynor remarked that as much as the rock-hewn churches of Gheralta and Lalibela, the walled city of Harar, the fortified settlements and terraces in Konso, and the castles of Gondar, the Aba Jiffar palace represents a history that made Ethiopia a country of incredible cultural diversity, and it reminds us that such diversity should be cherished as a source of shared pride.
“Together, these funds will make it possible to undertake the most comprehensive conservation project ever at Aba Jiffar Palace, including not only urgent timber conservation, but also significant work on masonry elements, drainage, roofing, fixtures, and fitting,” he added.
On the signing ceremony the newly appointed Culture and Tourism Minister Hirut Kassaw (PhD) and other government officials took part.