The ancient city of axum, also written as Aksum, and its ruins are found northern Ethiopia located near the base of the Adwa mountains. They mark the location of the heart of ancient Ethiopia. History of axum spans between 5000 B.C. to 1300 A.D., when the Kingdom of Axum was the most powerful state between the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia. The massive ruins, dating from between the 1st and the 13th century A.D., include monolithic obelisks, giant stelae, royal tombs and the ruins of ancient castles. Long after its political decline in the 10th century, Ethiopian emperors continued to be crowned in Axum.

Axum was the centre of the Axumite Kingdom, which emerged around the time of the birth of Jesus and declined in the 10th century due to the shift of the power centre of the Ethiopian Empire further south. Today seventy-five percent of the people in the city are Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. The remainder of the population is Sunni Muslim and Protestant and other non-Orthodox Christians.

Axum, was a great commercial civilization trading with distant lands, among them Egypt, Arabia, Persia, India and Ceylon. To countries such as these the ancient Axumites exported gold, ivory, rhinoceros-horn, hippopotamus hide and slaves, and imported all kinds of textiles - cottons and silks, as well as knives, swords and drinking cups, metal for local manufacture into all sorts of objects, and numerous luxury goods, including gold and silver plate, military cloaks for the nobility, olive oil and lacquer ware.

Due to its historical value, the ruins were included by UNESCO, in 1980, in the list of World Heritage Sites.

The kingdom of Axum had its own written language called Ge'ez, and also developed a distinctive architecture exemplified by giant obelisks, the oldest of which (though much smaller) date from 5,000-2,000 BC. The kingdom was at its height under king Ezana, baptized as Abreha, in the 300s AD which was also when it ethiopia officially embraced Christianity.

In 1937, a 24-meter tall, 1700-year-old obelisk standing in Axum was cut into three parts by Italian soldiers and shipped to Rome to be re-erected. The obelisk is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of engineering from the height of the Axumite empire. Despite a 1947 United Nations agreement that the obelisk would be shipped back, Italy balked, resulting in a long-standing diplomatic dispute with the Ethiopian government, which views the obelisk as a symbol of national identity. In April 2005, Italy finally returned the obelisk pieces to Axum amidst much official and public rejoicing. It is due to be re-erected in late 2006. UNESCO is responsible for the re-installation of this obelisk in Axum.

The Northern Stelae Park in Axum with the King Ezana's Stele at the centre and the Great Stele lies broken. The major Aksumite monuments in the town are stelae; the largest number lie in the Northern Stelae Park, ranging up to the 33 metre-high Great Stele (believed to have fallen during construction) and the tallest standing 24m high King Ezana's Stele. Another stele looted by the Italian army was only returned to Ethiopia in 2005 and is due for reinstallation. They are believed to mark graves and would have had cast metal discs affixed to their sides, which are also carved with architectural designs. The Gudit Stelae, unlike the northern area, are interspersed with mostly fourth century tombs.

Axum Home of the Arc of the Covenant

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims that the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum houses the Biblical Ark of the Covenant in which lies the Tablets of Law upon which the Ten Commandments are inscribed. Today a replica or symbol of the Ark of the Covenant, known as the tabot, occupies pride of place in the holy of holies of every Ethiopian Orthodox Church. These replicas - which derive their sanctity from their relationship to the true and original Ark still believed by Ethiopians to be kept at Axum - are so important that no church is considered consecrated without one.

This same church, Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum, was the site Ethiopian emperors were crowned for centuries until the reign of Fasilides, then again beginning with Yohannes IV until the end of the empire. Axum is considered to be the holiest city in Ethiopia and is an important destination of pilgrimages. Significant religious festivals are the colorful T'imk'et Festival (known as the Epiphany in western Christianity) on 7th January and the Festival of Maryam Zion in late November.

Other features of the town include St Mary of Zion church, built in 1665 and said to contain the Ark of the Covenant (a prominent twentieth century church of the same name neighbours it), archaeological and ethnograpic museums, the Ezana Stone written in Sabaean, Ge'ez and Ancient Greek in a similar manner to the Rosetta Stone, King Bazen's Tomb (a megalith considered to be one of the earliest structures), the so-called Queen of Sheba's Bath (actually a reservoir), the fourth century Ta'akha Maryam and sixth century Dungur Palaces, the monasteries of Abba Pentalewon and Abba Liqanos and the Lioness of Gobedra rock art.

Local legend claims the Queen of Sheba lived in the town.

The city is also home to a small airport.

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