A Life Devoted to Ethiopia’s Christian Heritage

In Memoriam — 1 October 2026

The passing of Italian architect and scholar Mario Di Salvo on 1 October 2026 is also a moment for Ethiopians to recognize a remarkable body of work devoted to documenting, studying and making better known an important part of Ethiopia’s cultural and Christian heritage.

Di Salvo was an architect and urbanist by profession, but his relationship with Ethiopia went considerably beyond architecture. Over many years, he brought the architect’s eye — careful observation of form, proportion, structure and continuity — to some of Ethiopia’s most distinctive cultural treasures: its churches, monasteries, basilicas, paintings and, perhaps most memorably, its crosses.

His work was patient and exacting. He measured, photographed, classified, compared, drew, researched and published. In doing so, he helped preserve a record of buildings and objects whose importance extends far beyond architecture. They are expressions of Ethiopia’s history, faith, craftsmanship and cultural imagination.

Narga Sellase: Architecture, Painting and Faith

One of Di Salvo’s first major Ethiopia-focused works was Churches of Ethiopia: The Monastery of Narga Sellase, published by Skira in 1999 in association with the Fondazione Carlo Leone Montandon, with contributions by the distinguished Ethiopian scholars Stanislaw Chojnacki and Osvaldo Raineri.

The study was devoted to the remarkable monastery of Narga Sellase on Lake Tana. Di Salvo did not treat the church merely as an isolated building. He placed it within the wider development of Ethiopian church architecture and examined its structure, artistic form and extraordinary cycle of paintings. The result brought architecture, painting, faith, history and landscape together as parts of a single cultural world.

The Crosses of Ethiopia

Di Salvo pursued this engagement even more extensively in Crosses of Ethiopia: The Sign of Faith — Evolution and Form, published by Skira in 2006. It became one of his most distinctive contributions to Ethiopian studies.

There is perhaps no symbol more immediately associated with Ethiopian Christianity than the cross, and yet the diversity of Ethiopian crosses is extraordinary. Across centuries, regions and uses, Ethiopian craftsmen developed a remarkable vocabulary of forms. Di Salvo spent years documenting these crosses, including work in museums in Addis Ababa, Aksum and Mekelle and in churches and monasteries. He studied their morphology, evolution and symbolism, and the relationships among different forms — from crosses appearing on Aksumite coins and in manuscripts to processional, hand and pectoral crosses.

His work helped demonstrate something that can easily be taken for granted: the Ethiopian cross is not simply a religious object. It is also an extraordinary record of indigenous design, craftsmanship, historical continuity and imagination.

The Basilicas of Ethiopia

His later major work, The Basilicas of Ethiopia: An Architectural History, published by I.B. Tauris in 2016–2017, widened the lens further. Di Salvo traced the development of Ethiopian Christian architecture from the ancient Aksumite basilicas through the post-Aksumite period, subterranean and semi-monolithic churches, cave churches, the extraordinary monolithic architecture of Lalibela and later Ethiopian basilicas.

Richly illustrated, the book was not simply a catalogue of buildings. It was an attempt to understand the continuity and transformation of an architectural tradition over many centuries. Significantly, Di Salvo dedicated the volume to the memory of his friend Mariena Mondelli Montandon and acknowledged the generous support of the Fondation Carlo Leone et Mariena Montandon in bringing the publication to fruition.

A Body of Work

The principal Ethiopia-focused books associated with Mario Di Salvo are:

• Churches of Ethiopia: The Monastery of Narga Sellase — 1999
• Crosses of Ethiopia: The Sign of Faith — Evolution and Form — 2006
• The Basilicas of Ethiopia: An Architectural History — 2016–2017

Beyond these books, biographical sources credit him with additional essays and research in Ethiopian studies. He was also among the curators of the 2008 Venice exhibition Nigra sum sed formosa: Sacro e bellezza dell’Etiopia cristiana, which brought the sacred art and beauty of Christian Ethiopia to a wider international audience.

Mariena Mondelli Montandon and the Foundation

Any recognition of Di Salvo’s Ethiopian work should also remember Mariena Mondelli Montandon, President of the Carlo Leone Montandon Foundation, whose support was closely connected to this body of scholarship.

Behind serious scholarship there is often someone willing to believe in work whose value may become fully apparent only years later. Mariena Mondelli Montandon played that role. The Foundation financed Di Salvo’s work on Ethiopian crosses, and his study of Narga Sellase was likewise published in association with the Foundation. In her foreword to the work on crosses, she expressed the hope that it would serve as a scientific reference for identifying and dating Ethiopian crosses.

Following her death, Di Salvo became Director of the Foundation, subsequently known as the Fondation Carlo Leone et Mariena Montandon. Their relationship therefore went beyond that of a scholar and a benefactor. Together, they helped preserve, study and communicate an important part of Ethiopia’s heritage to an international audience.

Documentation as Preservation

This work has acquired greater importance with time. Buildings deteriorate. Paintings fade. Objects can disappear into private collections. Churches and monuments can be damaged by neglect, environmental change, inappropriate restoration or conflict. Memory itself can disappear.

Careful documentation therefore becomes a form of preservation. Di Salvo’s photographs, drawings, classifications, architectural observations and publications created a record that remains available when the physical object itself may change or become inaccessible.

His work also carried another quiet but important message: Ethiopian Christian architecture and art should not be viewed simply as peripheral variations of traditions developed elsewhere. They constitute a distinctive historical, artistic and architectural tradition worthy of being studied on its own terms.

Remembering Mario Di Salvo

For Ethiopia, the passing of Mario Di Salvo should not go unnoticed. He was an Italian architect, but a significant part of his intellectual life was devoted to recording, understanding and sharing Ethiopia’s heritage. His work leaves behind not only beautiful books, but also an important documentary record for future generations.

At this moment, our thoughts are also with his wife, Clara, and their two daughters, Elena and Eloisa, who have lost a husband and a father. Behind a lifetime of research, travel and painstaking documentation is also the family that accompanied and supported that journey. To them, we extend our deepest sympathy and our gratitude for the life and work they shared with him.

Alongside Mario, we should also remember Mariena Mondelli Montandon and the Foundation whose support made much of this patient scholarship possible. Their collaboration reminds us that preserving cultural heritage depends not only on scholars, but also on those who recognize the importance of the work and are prepared to sustain it.

Preserving a country’s heritage is not only about protecting monuments. It is also about studying them, recording them, publishing them and passing knowledge of them from one generation to the next.

Mario Di Salvo helped Ethiopia do precisely that. For this, Ethiopia owes him a debt of gratitude.

The country’s leather industry is facing a shortage of raw materials and rising input costs, forcing tanneries to import production inputs from countries including Chile, India and Bangladesh despite the country’s large livestock population.

The challenges were raised during a discussion organised by the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations, where traders and government officials discussed constraints facing the manufacturing sector. Paulos Kusa, Head of the Manufacturing Sector at the Addis Ababa Industry Bureau, was among the government representatives attending the forum.

Paulos said Ethiopia’s large livestock population has not translated into sufficient raw-material supplies for the domestic leather industry.

“While Ethiopia is the leading producer of livestock in Africa, neighbouring countries have become known for illegally transporting our animals and exporting livestock and leather products. Meanwhile, our leather factories are importing inputs from countries such as Chile because of shortages in domestic supply,” he said.

He said the government has given attention to addressing challenges in the leather sector and expressed hope that the leather industrial cluster under construction in Mojo would help resolve some of the industry’s problems.

The Ethiopian Leather Industries Association said the sector is facing serious difficulties due to rising input costs and the growing export of raw hides and skins.

Dagnachew Abebe, Secretary General of the association, told Capital that although Ethiopia has no shortage of raw hides, domestic tanneries are struggling to secure sufficient supplies.

He said the previous restriction on exporting unprocessed hides and skins had helped protect domestic value addition, but changes to the policy have created new challenges for local manufacturers.

“Previously, it was good to ban the export of leather that had not undergone value addition. Now the law has been amended, allowing raw leather to be exported after paying a 150 per cent tax. This has created a major problem for the industry,” Dagnachew said.

He said Ethiopian raw hides are being purchased for export to West African markets, including Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria. According to him, some exporters are also sourcing hides from government slaughterhouses.

Dagnachew said the quality of hides had previously been one of the industry’s major concerns, but the availability of raw materials has now become an equally serious problem.

He also alleged that hides from slaughterhouses are not always properly separated or handled, resulting in some being damaged and discarded. At the same time, he said, government slaughterhouses have started selling hides to exporters at higher prices, making it more difficult for domestic tanneries to compete for supplies.

Facing shortages and rising prices, Ethiopian tanneries are importing inputs from India and Bangladesh to keep their factories operational and avoid leaving expensive machinery and workers idle.

Dagnachew said the rising cost of production has also pushed up the prices of finished leather products. Products that previously sold for around 1,000 birr, he said, can now cost as much as 7,000 birr.

He called on the government to introduce stronger measures to prevent the export of raw hides and skins, particularly those originating from government slaughterhouses.

According to Dagnachew, a cowhide can be purchased from households or local collectors for up to 100 birr, while tanneries may pay up to 400 birr. However, he said exporters can purchase hides from slaughterhouses for as much as 1,500 birr per kilogram at auction and sell them abroad for up to 3,000 birr.

Capital sought a response from the Ministry of Industry regarding the concerns raised by the leather industry, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Ethiopia has one of Africa’s largest livestock populations, with an estimated 66–70 million cattle, yet the leather industry continues to face difficulties in converting the country’s livestock resources into locally processed, higher-value products.

Ethiopian exporters have yet to meet the requirements needed to access Alibaba’s global e-commerce platform, while businesses say high costs, quality standards and limited support are discouraging them from using international online marketplaces.

Baheru Zeyenu, Chief Executive Officer of Africom Technologies, Alibaba’s representative in Ethiopia, told Capital that efforts are under way to connect Ethiopian exporters with the platform, but no exporter has so far met Alibaba’s minimum requirements.

He said exporters must satisfy criteria covering product type, packaging, quality, composition and environmental standards.

Alibaba offers Ethiopian businesses access to international buyers in markets including China, Africa, the United States and Asia. Baheru said the platform could provide significant opportunities for exporters, particularly those dealing in coffee and other agricultural products.

However, Ethiopian exporters seeking to use the platform are required to pay a fee of US$5,000. Baheru defended the cost, noting that exporters participating in international trade exhibitions can spend more than US$10,000 on accommodation and other expenses, while e-commerce platforms can provide access to buyers throughout the year.

He also encouraged Ethiopian exporters to explore the Chinese market, where interest in coffee is growing. He said Alibaba is seeking to create greater opportunities for small and medium-sized exporters.

According to data cited by Africom Technologies, products worth more than US$3.5 billion are traded through Alibaba each day, amounting to about US$1.4 trillion annually.

Despite the potential of international e-commerce, an Ethiopian coffee exporter said the platforms remain difficult to access, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses.

The exporter, who requested anonymity, said storage expenses, platform and service fees, quality-related costs and limited support from stakeholders are among the main barriers.

“E-commerce platforms such as Alibaba offer significant market opportunities, but they also present major challenges for small and medium-sized exporters,” the exporter said.

He said Ethiopia’s traditional export model, which largely involves exporting commodities without significant value addition, also limits the country’s competitiveness in international online markets.

According to the exporter, international buyers increasingly seek products that require less processing and are easier to use, creating additional challenges for Ethiopian businesses competing in global markets.

He also identified limited domestic market linkages, concerns over reliability, high international competition and the costs associated with meeting export standards as factors discouraging exporters from adopting e-commerce platforms.

The comments highlight a gap between the potential offered by global digital marketplaces and the ability of Ethiopian businesses to meet the financial, quality and operational requirements needed to participate in them.

Ethiopia has been opening its logistics sector to foreign investment as part of efforts to improve export and import services and attract foreign direct investment. For exporters, however, expanding into digital international markets will also require greater capacity to meet product-quality, packaging, sustainability and market-access requirements.