Ethiopia was never colonised, and its art shows it — Coptic icon painting bleeding straight into 1960s modernism, azmari poets still trading rhymed insults in Kazanchis bars. Three days of palace museums, artist-run galleries and mud-walled architecture.
Elias Sime and Meskerem Assegued's eco-museum: curved chika walls of mud and straw hand-sculpted by masons, galleries, an amphitheatre and a working farm inside the compound. Open 09:00–18:00 daily.
The gallery that pushed Ethiopian modernism onto the global market, representing Tesfaye Urgessa and Merikokeb Berhanu. Rotating shows across two white-cube floors, Tue–Sat 10:00–18:00, with staff who talk you through each artist.
Italian-occupation Piazza on foot: the art deco Cinema Empire, the octagonal St George Cathedral of 1896 built for the Adwa victory, and Taitu Hotel (1898), Ethiopia's oldest, with its pine floors and Armenian carpentry.
Mihret Kebede's artist-run space in a converted villa — experimental installations, poetry evenings and work by Netsa Art Village alumni. Opening hours flex around shows; Wednesday to Saturday afternoons are reliable.
Haile Selassie's palace on the university campus, his bedroom and bullet-holed mirror left intact. Upstairs holds one of the world's finest collections of Ethiopian icons, magic scrolls and processional crosses. Mon–Fri 08:00–17:00.
Baroque-domed 1942 cathedral where Haile Selassie and Empress Menen lie in carved granite tombs, ringed by stained glass tracing Ethiopian history. Sylvia Pankhurst and the Derg's murdered ministers are buried in the grounds.
Meskel Square memorial to the 1977–78 Derg purges: victims' skulls and clothing, a reconstructed prison cell, and photographs walls of the disappeared. The guides are survivors and relatives who volunteer as docents.
Melaku Belay's cultural centre off Zewditu Street: azmari singers improvising rhymed teasing on the masinko, eskista shoulder-dancing that dislocates belief, and a full band most nights from around 20:00.
Menelik II's octagonal church of 1885 on the 3,200 m ridge where he founded the city before descending to the hot springs. The museum beside it keeps his crown, ceremonial umbrellas and Empress Taytu's jewellery.
The handloom district below Entoto, where men work pit looms in open-fronted workshops and women sell habesha kemis and netela shawls priced by the width of the tibeb border woven into the hem.
Reopened in 2024 after a four-year UN restoration, the 1961 hall where the OAU was founded. Afewerk Tekle's 150-square-metre triptych, The Total Liberation of Africa, floods the stairwell in cobalt and gold.
The 1955 theatre on Ras Mekonnen Avenue still stages Amharic drama, the National Ballet and traditional-music evenings. Handwritten posters at the box office list the week; most seats sit well under 300 birr.