Cinema Impero

This grand Art Deco cinema on Asmara's main avenue is among the finest surviving examples of the modernist architecture built during Italian colonial rule in the 1930s. Its striking facade, with three vertical bands crowned by porthole windows and bold lettering, has made it an icon of the city. The lavish interior, decorated with painted panels, once seated well over a thousand spectators. As a centrepiece of Asmara's designation as a UNESCO World Heritage modernist city, it continues to draw admirers of period design.