The Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum is a memorial museum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Africa Avenue. It is also known as the Red Terror Museum. Its subject is the Red Terror, the campaign of state violence that Ethiopia endured in 1977 and 1978, and it presents that period through the lives of those who suffered it.
What you will see
The museum documents the atrocities of those years through three kinds of material:
- Photographs of victims and of the period
- Personal belongings that once belonged to the people who were killed
- Testimonies from victims, which give the displays their most direct voice
What kind of visit it makes
This is a sobering place rather than a light one. Visitors should expect to move slowly through the rooms and to take time with the individual stories, since the exhibits are built around personal loss. It suits anyone who wants to understand a difficult chapter of modern Ethiopian history, and it is a place to visit with patience and respect.
If you plan to go, you can call the museum on +251-11-515-5552 to check arrangements before you travel.
Around the museum
The museum is in Addis Ababa, the capital, so it can be combined with other visits in the city. Because it deals with a painful history, many travellers choose to leave time afterwards for quiet reflection or a meal before moving on to their next stop.
