The Cinema Impero is an Art Deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

-style Cinema

Movie theater

A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

 built by the Italians

Italian Eritreans

Italian Eritreans are Eritrean-born descendants of Italian settlers as well as Italian long-term residents in Eritrea.-History:...

 in Asmara

Asmara

Asmara is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people...

 (Eritrea

Eritrea

Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...

) in 1937.

History

Cinema Impero was the largest movie theater constructed in Asmara during the last period of the Italian colony of Eritrea. It was named after the conquest of Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

 by Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....

 and his proclamation of the Italian Empire

Italian Empire

The Italian Empire was created after the Kingdom of Italy joined other European powers in establishing colonies overseas during the "scramble for Africa". Modern Italy as a unified state only existed from 1861. By this time France, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and the Netherlands, had already carved...

.

The building still houses a cinema today, and it is considered by the experts one of the world's finest examples of Art Déco style building .

Cinema Impero is still structurally sound after 70 years, escaping damage during the several conflicts that have affected the Horn of Africa

Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...

 over the past century.

It is a tourist attraction in modern Asmara, along with the famous Fiat Tagliero Building

Fiat Tagliero Building

The Fiat Tagliero Building in Asmara, capital city of Eritrea, is a Futurist Style service station completed in 1938 and designed by the Italian architect Giuseppe Pettazzi....

 and some other Italian-period structures of colonial Eritrea, including the Presidential Palace

Asmara President's Office

The Asmara President's Office is the building, in Italian neoclassical style, where the President of Eritrea lives and rules the country. It has some resemblance with the White House of Washington, D.C..‎- History :...

 and the City Hall.

Structure

The building structure has not been substantially altered since its construction, as designed by architect Mario Messina.

Most of the equipment and the seats are all original. Forty-five round lights decorate the front with 'Cinema Impero' in illuminated letters, mounted vertically on the façade.

Several pairs of doors lead into the cinema. Each door has an impressive large semi-circular handle forming a full circle with its partner when both are closed.

See also

• Italian Eritreans
  Italian Eritreans
  Italian Eritreans are Eritrean-born descendants of Italian settlers as well as Italian long-term residents in Eritrea.-History:...
  
  
• Asmara
  Asmara
  Asmara is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people...
  
  
• Fiat Tagliero Building
  Fiat Tagliero Building
  The Fiat Tagliero Building in Asmara, capital city of Eritrea, is a Futurist Style service station completed in 1938 and designed by the Italian architect Giuseppe Pettazzi....
  
  
• Asmara President's Office
  Asmara President's Office
  The Asmara President's Office is the building, in Italian neoclassical style, where the President of Eritrea lives and rules the country. It has some resemblance with the White House of Washington, D.C..‎- History :...