City Africa
Asmara
Asmara is the capital city of Eritrea, in Africa. It is high up in the mountains, and it has many unusual old buildings.
Asmara is the capital of Eritrea, near the Red Sea, more than 2,000 meters above the sea. It grew from the 1890s, and after 1935 many modern buildings went up, such as a filling station with long, flat, wing-like roofs. UNESCO made the city a World Heritage Site in 2017.
Asmara grew from the 1890s as an Italian colonial military outpost; a big building program after 1935 used the Italian rationalist style for offices, homes, cinemas and garages. UNESCO inscribed 'Asmara: A Modernist African City' in 2017 (481 ha).
Photo: I, Sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Asmara
Asmara is the capital city of Eritrea. Eritrea is a country in Africa, by the Red Sea.
Asmara is very high up. Its winter nights are chilly.
Asmara is the capital of Eritrea, a country in Africa beside the Red Sea. UNESCO says it lies more than 2,000 meters above sea level; Universalis gives 2,340 meters.
The last census count City Population lists for Asmara, from 1984, found 275,385 people. A United Nations estimate for 2018 gave 896,000.
City Population lists Asmara (Āsmera) with 275,385 people in the census of 9 May 1984 and 380,568 in an estimate for 1997 whose date it calls uncertain; its 'major cities' table uses the UN World Urbanization Prospects figure of 896,000 for 2018. No newer official count opens.
Universalis (Eritrea) puts Asmara at 2,340 m with 521 mm of rain a year, on the high plateau above the Red Sea coast.
- Country
- Eritrea (its capital)
- Height above the sea
- more than 2,000 m (Universalis: 2,340 m)
- People (census, 9 May 1984)
- 275,385
- People (UN estimate, 2018)
- 896,000
The Fiat Tagliero building
Look at this white building! Its flat roofs stretch out to both sides, like long wings.
A tall tower in the middle has big red letters.
This is the Fiat Tagliero building, photographed on 24 November 2015. Wikidata lists it as a filling station that opened in 1938. Long, flat concrete roofs stretch out on both sides of a tall white tower with red letters, under a clear blue sky.
In front, a car drives along the street, and people walk across a crossing, one pushing a bicycle.
Commons: 'Fiat tagliero, 09', 24 November 2015, own work by Sailko (GFDL and CC BY-SA 3.0). Wikidata: Fiat Tagliero Building, a gas station opened in 1938, part of the World Heritage Site.
UNESCO lists garages among the buildings that make up the World Heritage property, with cinemas, schools, villas and factories.
- Photo
- the Fiat Tagliero building, 24 November 2015
- Fiat Tagliero building
- a filling station, opened 1938
- Protected with it
- the city's garages, cinemas, schools and villas
A city planned in the 1930s
Long ago, an army camp grew up here. Later, many new buildings went up.
Today the old buildings are protected as world treasures.
UNESCO says the modern city grew from the 1890s as a military outpost of Italy, which then ruled Eritrea as a colony. After 1935 a huge building program filled Asmara with offices, homes, shops, cinemas, hotels and places of worship in the Italian rationalist style of the time.
The protected area takes in the parts planned between 1893 and 1941 and the local, unplanned neighborhoods of Arbate Asmera and Abbashawel.
UNESCO 1550: an exceptional example of early modernist urbanism at the beginning of the 20th century and its application in an African context; planned in phases between 1893 and 1941; the plan combines a grid with radial streets and scenic spaces. UNESCO also notes that the colonial plan used zoning to separate people by race.
Inscribed 8 July 2017 under criteria (ii) and (iv); property 481 ha, buffer zone 1,203 ha.
- Beginning of the modern city
- the 1890s, as an Italian colonial military outpost
- Big building program
- after 1935
- World Heritage Site
- 2017
Avenues, a railway and a cableway
Long ago, a very long cable line carried goods between Asmara and the coast.
Today planes fly from an airport near the city.
Asmara sits high above the Red Sea port of Massawa. Wikidata records an Eritrean railway line opened in 1901 and the Asmara–Massawa Cableway, a ropeway for goods, 71.8 kilometers long, dating from 1937.
UNESCO names Harnet and Sematat avenues among the city's protected streets. Asmara International Airport lies about 5.5 kilometers south-southwest of the Fiat Tagliero building.
Wikidata: Eritrean Railway (line), opened 1901, 118 km; Asmara–Massawa Cableway, material ropeway, 1937, 71.8 km; Asmara International Airport 5.47 km SSW of the Fiat Tagliero building.
Universalis (Eritrea): an escarpment more than 2,000 m high rises above the narrow, dry Red Sea plain, where Massawa gets 182 mm of rain a year.
- Eritrean Railway
- opened 1901 (Wikidata)
- Asmara–Massawa Cableway
- a goods ropeway from 1937, 71.8 km long
- Asmara International Airport
- about 5.5 km south-southwest of the Fiat Tagliero building
Cool highlands, summer rain
Asmara is never very hot. Winter nights are chilly.
Most of the rain falls in July and August.
The World Meteorological Organization's averages for Asmara give daytime highs between about 22 and 25 °C all year. January nights average only about 6 °C.
About 533 millimeters of rain fall in a year, and almost two-thirds of it falls in July and August. From December to February there is hardly any rain at all.
WMO World Weather Information Service, Asmara (no averaging period given): average highs 21.6 °C (August, November) to 25.2 °C (May); average lows 5.6 °C (January) to 11.4 °C (July, August). Rainfall 532.5 mm, of which July (173.7 mm) and August (165.2 mm) bring 338.9 mm; December to February together 7.9 mm.
Universalis gives Asmara 521 mm a year.
- May, average high (WMO)
- 25.2 °C
- January, average low (same table)
- 5.6 °C
- Rainfall in a year (same table)
- 532.5 mm
Cinemas, parks and avenues
Asmara has old cinemas, avenues and parks. People walk and ride bicycles along the streets.
UNESCO lists the cinemas Impero, Roma, Odeon, Capitol and Hamasien among the buildings that make Asmara special, together with schools, sports grounds, garages, villas, shops and factories. Wikidata dates the Cinema Impero to 1937.
UNESCO says the city's streets, buildings and open spaces keep a human scale, and that they hold both colonial and post-colonial African life.
UNESCO: the architecture uses modern materials and a rationalist idiom but borrows heavily from local forms, building methods, materials, skills and labor. Its listed elements include Harnet and Sematat avenues, Mai Jah Jah park, walking paths, old street-name plaques and the 1930s post office on Segeneyti Street.
Wikidata: Cinema Impero, 1937, 1.8 km ENE of the Fiat Tagliero building.
- Cinema Impero
- a cinema from 1937 (Wikidata)
- Cinemas named by UNESCO
- Impero, Roma, Odeon, Capitol, Hamasien
- Protected park
- Mai Jah Jah park
Asmara on the map
Find Africa on the globe. Look near the Red Sea. Eritrea is there, and Asmara is up in its mountains.
Asmara lies at about 15.3° north, high on the plateau above Eritrea's Red Sea coast. Measured from the Fiat Tagliero building, the Cinema Impero is about 1.8 kilometers east-northeast and the airport about 5.5 kilometers south-southwest.
The city's own point on Wikidata is about 1.1 kilometers west-northwest of the Fiat building.
Asmara lies at about 15.33° N and 38.93° E. From the Fiat Tagliero building (Wikidata points): Asmara's point 1.13 km WNW, Cinema Impero 1.80 km ENE, Asmara International Airport 5.47 km SSW.
UNESCO's coordinates for the property: N15 20 7, E38 56 9.
- Latitude
- about 15.3° north
- Longitude
- about 38.9° east
- Setting
- on the high plateau above the Red Sea coast
Amazing facts
-
Asmara has an old filling station with roofs like long wings!
The Fiat Tagliero building, a filling station that opened in 1938, has long flat roofs stretching out from a tall tower.
Wikidata: Fiat Tagliero Building, gas station, opened 1938; UNESCO counts the 1930s garages among Asmara's protected buildings.
-
The whole middle of Asmara is a World Heritage Site!
In 2017 UNESCO made 'Asmara: A Modernist African City' a World Heritage Site, protecting 481 hectares of the city.
UNESCO 1550: inscribed 8 July 2017, criteria (ii)(iv), property 481 ha, buffer zone 1,203 ha.
-
Asmara has many old cinemas.
UNESCO names five of Asmara's cinemas among its special buildings: Impero, Roma, Odeon, Capitol and Hamasien.
UNESCO's list of attributes includes the cinemas Impero, Roma, Odeon, Capitol and Hamasien; Wikidata dates the Impero to 1937.
-
Asmara is high up in the mountains, and January nights are chilly.
Asmara is more than 2,000 meters up, and its January nights average only about 6 °C.
WMO: January average low 5.6 °C; highs never average above 25.2 °C; UNESCO: over 2,000 m above sea level.
Words to know
- modernist
- a style of building from the early 1900s with simple shapes, flat surfaces and new materials like concrete
- rationalist
- an Italian modern building style that uses clear, simple shapes
- outpost
- a small camp far from the main center
- highlands
- high, hilly or mountainous land
- World Heritage Site
- a place UNESCO lists as important for all people to protect
- ropeway
- cables strung between towers that carry loads in hanging cars
Discovery challenge
-
Asmara is the capital of which country?
Asmara is the capital of which country in the Horn of Africa?
'Asmara: A Modernist African City' is a World Heritage Site in which country?
- Eritrea
- Egypt
- Ghana
Show the answer
Eritrea
Eritrea!
Eritrea.
Eritrea.
-
Is Asmara down by the sea or high up in the mountains?
About how high above the sea is Asmara?
UNESCO says Asmara lies above which height?
- High up: more than 2,000 meters
- At sea level
- Below sea level
Show the answer
High up: more than 2,000 meters
High up in the mountains!
More than 2,000 meters.
Over 2,000 m (Universalis: 2,340 m).
-
What kind of building is the Fiat Tagliero, with its long flat roofs?
The Fiat Tagliero building, opened in 1938, was built as what?
Wikidata classes the 1938 Fiat Tagliero Building, part of the World Heritage Site, as what?
- A filling station
- A school
- A train station
Show the answer
A filling station
A filling station for cars!
A filling station.
A gas (filling) station.
-
In which months does most of Asmara's rain fall?
Which two months bring almost two-thirds of Asmara's rain?
In the WMO table, which two months give 338.9 of Asmara's 532.5 mm?
- January and February
- July and August
- October and November
Show the answer
July and August
July and August!
July and August.
July (173.7 mm) and August (165.2 mm).
-
In 2017, Asmara was added to a list of world treasures. Whose list?
Which organization made Asmara a World Heritage Site in 2017?
Which body inscribed Asmara under criteria (ii) and (iv) in 2017?
- UNESCO
- FIFA
- NASA
Show the answer
UNESCO
UNESCO's!
UNESCO.
UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Asmara on the highlands above Eritrea's Red Sea coast.
- Explain how height above sea level keeps a city cool.
- Describe what makes a building 'modernist'.
- Read a rainfall table and find a short rainy season.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Asmara's whole center is protected. Why might people protect ordinary buildings like garages and cinemas, not just palaces?
- Asmara is close to the equator but has chilly nights. Why?
- The Fiat Tagliero building has roofs that look like wings. What shapes would you give a building, and why?
Try at home or in class
- Rain chart: plot Asmara's monthly rainfall and shade July and August.
- Paper architect: fold card into a tower with two long flat roofs and test how far the roofs can stretch before they sag.
- Height and cold: compare Asmara's January low with a city near sea level at a similar latitude on a map.
Key vocabulary: modernist, rationalist, outpost, highlands, World Heritage Site, ropeway
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Natural Earth vector data , Natural Earth (NACIS) (Public domain)
- Asmara: A Modernist African City , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Eritrea: Regions and Cities , City Population (Thomas Brinkhoff)
- Érythrée , Encyclopaedia Universalis (Roland Marchal)
- Asmara: climatological information , World Meteorological Organization, World Weather Information Service (Eritrea)
- File:Fiat tagliero, 09.JPG (Sailko, 24 November 2015) , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.