Cinema Impero

Cinema Impero was the largest movie theater constructed in Asmara during the last period of the Italian colony of Eritrea.

[2] Cinema Impero is still structurally sound after 70 years, escaping damage during the several conflicts that have affected the Horn of Africa over the past century.

It is a tourist attraction in modern Asmara – along with the famous Fiat Tagliero Building and some other Italian-period structures of colonial Eritrea (including the Presidential Palace and the City Hall) – that have made Asmara a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 2017.

Forty-five round lights decorate the front with 'Cinema Impero' in illuminated letters, mounted vertically on the façade.

Each door has an impressive large semi-circular handle forming a full circle with its partner when both are closed.