ARCCH: Ato Yonas Desta

Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural
Heritage (ARCCH)

ATO YONAS DESTA is the Director General of Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH), which is the national body responsible for the cultural heritage of Ethiopia. In the image above we see him in his office in the new ARCCH building, which was established a couple of years ago just in front of the National Museum in Addis Ababa.  ARCCH is a branch of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. SCECH has by its Project Manager, Mr. Lars Gerdmar, since several years etstablished a close contact first with ARCCH’s former DG Ato Jara Haile Mariam and since 2011 with DG Ato Yonas Desta and this institution. Several appointments on account of our planned project of conservation and education has here been discussed. ARCCH is informed about the planned project of conservation of Yimrihanne Kristos, the apprentices education, which make part of this, and has given us its whole-hearted support. Under the leadership of Ato Yonas Desta, ARCCH has issued permission for the preparatory work and the preliminary ocular and technical examination of this site and its paintings, which took place in October 2012 and was done in order to implement conservation. He and some of his staff at ARCCH did also participate in a joint two days follow up workshop after this examination held in Addis Ababa 2013 and dedicated to the conservation project of Yimrihanne Kristos. This was organized by SCECH and Addis Ababa University (AAU) with participation of about 50 delegates, including 4 from SCECH, representatives from ARCCH’s head office and their regional and local offices in Bahir Dar and Lalibela, AAU, Ministry of Culture, IES (the Institute of Ethiopian Studies), The Patriarchate as well as priests and other representatives from Lalibela and Yimrihanne Kristos. ARCCH is, besides the Patriarchate of the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church, the superior institution for the Christian part of the Ethiopian Cultural Heritage as a whole and this institution is therefore a most important collaborator. Learn more: ARCCH, Addis Ababa, Preliminary examination in Yimrihannes Kristos