GONDAR African Camelot

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The Center of Ethiopian art and culture Gondar, founded by Emperor
Fasilidas around 1635, is famous for its many medieval castles and the
design and decoration of its churches – in particular, Debra Berhan
Selassie which represents a masterpiece of the Gondarene school of
art.–Famous though Gondar may be, however, no one knows exactly why
Fasilidas chose to establish his headquarters there. Some legends say an
archangel prophesied that an Ethiopian capital would be built at a
place with a name that began with the letter G. The legend led to a
whole series of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century towns – Guzara,
Gorgora and finally Gondar. Another legend claims that the city was
built in a place chosen by God. Apparently, He pointed it out to
Fasilidas who was on a hunting expedition and followed a buffalo to the
spot. –Flanked by twin mountain streams at an altitude of more than
2,300 meters Gondar commands spectacular views over farmlands to the
gleaming waters of Lake Tana thirty-five kilometers to the south. The
city retains an atmosphere of antique charm mingled with an aura of
mystery and violence. An extensive compound, near its center contains
the hulking ruins of a group of imposing castles like some African
Camelot.

The battlements and towers evoke images of chivalrous knights on
horseback and of ceremonies laden with pageantry and honor. Other,
darker, reverberations recall chilling echoes of Machiavellian plots and
intrigues, tortures and poisonings. –The main castle was built in the
late 1630s and early 1640s on the orders of Fasilidas. The Emperor, who
was greatly interested in architecture – St Marys in Axum was another of
his works – was also responsible for seven churches, a number of
bridges, and a three-story stone pavilion next to a large, sunken
bathing place, rectangular in shape, which is still filled during the
Timkat season with water from the nearby Qaha river.–Other structures
date from later periods. Iyasu the Great, a grandson of Fasilidas, was
particularly active. His castle, centrally located in the main compound,
was described at the time by his chronicler as finer than the House of
Solomon. Its inner walls were decorated with ivory, mirrors and
paintings of palm trees, its ceiling covered with gold-leaf and precious
stones. Now gutted, haunted only by ghosts, the intact turrets and
towers of this fine stronghold reflect its past glory. –Iyasus most
lasting achievement, was the Church of Debra Berhan Selassie, the Light
of the Trinity, which stands, surrounded by a high wall, on raised
ground to the north-west of the city and continues to be in regular use.
A plain, thatched, rectangular structure on the outside, the interior
of Debra Berhan Selassie is marvelously painted with a great many scenes
from religious history. The spaces between the beams of the ceiling
contain the brilliant wide-eyed images of more than eighty angels faces –
all different, with their own character and expressions. The north
wall, in which is the holy of holies, is dominated by a depiction of the
Trinity above the crucifixion. The theme of the south wall is St Mary;
that of the east wall the life of Jesus. The west wall shows important
saints, with St George in red-and-gold on a prancing white horse.–Not
long after completing this remarkable and impressive work, Iyasu went
into deep depression when his favorite concubine died. He abandoned
affairs of state and his son, Tekla Haimanot, responded by declaring
himself Emperor. Shortly afterwards, in 1706, his father was
assassinated on his orders. –In turn, Tekla Haimanot was murdered. His
successor was also forcibly deposed and the next monarch was poisoned.
The brutalities came to an end with Emperor Bakaffa who left two fine
castles – one attributed directly to him and one to his consort, the
Empress Mentewab.

Bahir Dar – Lake Tana Monasteries and Blue Nile falls

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The Lake Tana /BAHIR DAR/ and The Blue Nile Falls
– the Source of the most famous river in the World. Lake Tana, the
largest lake in Ethiopia, situated north of the beautiful town of Bahir
Dar is the source from where the famous Blue Nile starts its long
journey to Khartoum, and on to the Mediterranean.

The 37 mysterious islands that are scattered about the surface of the
lake, give shelter to well hidden churches and monasteries of immense
historical and cultural interest; decorated with beautiful paintings and
housing innumerable treasures.

Along the lakeshore bird life, both local and migratory visitors,
make the site an ideal place for birdwatchers. The whole of the lake
Tana region and the Blue Nile gorge host a wide variety of birds both
endemic and migratory visitors. The variety of habitats, from rocky
crags to riverside forests and important wetlands, ensure that many
other different species should be spotted.

Restorative work explains the Gondarene character of some of the
paintings found in the remarkable monasteries and churches on the
islands of Lake Tana. –Kebran Gabriel, for example, originally
established in the fourteenth century, was later renovated and rebuilt
during the reign of Emperor Iyasu I (1682-1706). Narga Selassie, built
in the eighteenth century by Empress Mentewab, is also Gondarene in
character. Other churches are influenced by different periods. For
instance, although Ura Kidane Mehret on the Zegie Peninsula is a
fourteenth-century building, its most powerful murals notably around the
holy of holies – were painted in Gondarene times.

On the other hand, the centerpiece of Daga Istafanos is a Madonna
painted during the reign of Emperor Zara Yaqob (1434-68). Although
medieval by date, this work has the flowing lines, realism, beauty and
tension of much later styles.–The thirty-seven islands of Lake Tana
shelter twenty monasteries – surviving remnants of an old, contemplative
tradition. Because of their isolation they were used to store art
treasures and religious relics from all parts of the country. Tradition
says the Ark of the Covenant was kept on one of these islands when Axum
was endangered, and the remains of five Emperors – including Fasilidas –
are to be found at Daga Istafanos. Monks at Ura Kidane Mehret say that
more than forty tabots from churches destroyed by Ahmed Gragn were
hidden in their monastery during the sixteenth century.–The thirty-seven
islands of Lake Tana shelter twenty monasteries – surviving remnants of
an old, contemplative tradition. Because of their isolation they were
used to store art treasures and religious relics from all parts of the
country. Tradition says the Ark of the Covenant was kept on one of these
islands when Axum was endangered, and the remains of five Emperors –
including Fasilidas – are to be found at Daga Istafanos. Monks at Ura
Kidane Mehret say that more than forty tabots from churches destroyed by
Ahmed Gragn were hidden in their monastery during the sixteenth
century.

The Blue Nile river flows out of the lake with tremendous force and
volume over the basalt shoulder of a giant cataract and onwards from
there, ever downwards through dark and angry defiles, towards the
deserts of the Sudan, on its way to enrich Egypt’s fertile delta.

The power of the Blue Nile may best be appreciated just thirty
kilometers downstream from the point where the river first leaves Lake
Tana. There, a rumble of sound fills the air and the green fields and
low hills on either bank tremble to the Blue Nile Falls. It is one of
the most dramatic spectacles on either the White or Blue Niles, a vision
of natural strength and grandeur.

Four hundred meters wide in flood, the Blue Nile plunges forty-five
meters down a sheer chasm to throw up a continuous mist that drenches
the countryside up to a kilometer away. In turn, this gentle deluge
produces rainbows that shimmer across the gorge under the changing arc
of the sun – and a perennial rainforest. The pillar of cloud in the sky
above, seen from afar, explains the local name for the falls – water
that smokes, Tissisat.

The approach to the falls leads through Tissisat village where
travelers find themselves surrounded by a retinue of youthful guides and
musicians. For a small fee, they will point out many places of historic
interest.

Axum

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Axum, is a city in northern Ethiopia named after the long lived Kingdom of Aksum. Located in the Tigray near the base of the Adwa mountains, this town has an elevation of 2130 meters.AXUM, the site of Ethiopia’s most ancient city, is today a small town, ignorant of its glorious past. The 16th century Cathedral of St. Mary of Zion is built on the site of a much older church probably resembling that of Debre Damo, dating from the 4th century AD. Only a platform and the wide stone steps remain from the earlier structure. The Cathedral is the repository of the crowns of some of Ethiopias former emperors. According to church legend, it also houses the original Ark of the Covenant – thus making St. Marys the holiest sanctuary in Ethiopia.–Founded perhaps 500 years after the downfall of Yeha, together with its Red Sea port, Adulis. which were abandoned suddenly – probably in the sixth century AD as the result of an invasion from Arabia, and, much more is known about the historic highland city of Axum. Protected by the mountains of northern Tigray, Axum survived and kept on having a big influence on the imaginations and spiritual lives of many Ethiopians. –A small and lowly town surrounded by dry hills, modern Axum does not easily shows the evidence of the splendors of its glorious past. Its drab breeze-block houses, roofed with corrugated iron, look little different from those of any other highland settlement and its people seem remarkable only for their impassive stoicism. Part buried, however, but also part exposed, the extensive traces of noble buildings with large stone foundations are found there side by side with the ruins of even more impressive structures: temples, fortresses, and rich palaces. Adding substance to ancient legends of fire-breathing monsters and testifying to the lost truths embedded in myths and fables, the bones of bygone eras protrude everywhere through the soil. Even today, long- buried hordes of gold, silver and bronze coins are exposed by heavy downpours of rain.

Axum, was a great commercial civilization trading with distant lands, among them Egypt, Arabia, Persia, India and Ceylon. To countries such as these the ancient Axumites exported gold, ivory, rhinoceros-horn, hippopotamus hide and slaves, and imported all kinds of textiles – cottons and silks, as well as knives, swords and drinking cups, metal for local manufacture into all sorts of objects, and numerous luxury goods, including gold and silver plate, military cloaks for the nobility, olive oil and lacquer ware. –Testimony to the importance of this trade is to be seen in the Axumite currency, in gold, silver and bronze, which was inscribed either in Greek or Ge,ez, and issued for several hundred years by over twenty different Axumite kings. Most of this fascinating money was struck in the city, but other coins were probably minted at Adulis, as well as in South Arabia, part of which in the sixth century was under Axumite control. –Today a replica or symbol of the Ark of the Covenant, known as the tabot, occupies pride of place in the holy of holies of every Ethiopian Orthodox Church. These replicas – which derive their sanctity from their relationship to the true and original Ark still believed by Ethiopians to be kept at Axum – are so important that no church is considered consecrated without one.–Ethiopia’s claim to the lost Ark of the Covenant is a contentious one. Many do believe this priceless Old Testament treasure rests in Axum, exactly where the Ethiopians say it is. It seems likely, however, that the Ark arrived in Ethiopia in the late fifth century Bc, about 500 years after the time of Solomon, Sheba and Menelik, for completely different reasons from those set out in the national epic. There is some evidence that it was first installed on an island in Lake Tana where it remained for 800 years before finally being moved to Axum around the time of Ethiopia’s conversion to Christianity in the fourth century AD.

The Northern Stelae Field contains more than 120 stelae made of smooth, grey stone. The stelae are each made from single pieces of granite and stand as high as 82 feet. All the Axum stelae face south, and so watch the sun on its daily journey across the sky.

The Stelae were carved and erected in the city of Axum (in modern-day Ethiopia), probably during the 4th century A.D. by subjects of the Kingdom of Aksum, an ancient Ethiopian civilisation. The largest of the grave markers were for royal burial chambers and were decorated with multi-story false windows and false doors, while nobility would have smaller, less decorated ones. Although there are only a few large ones standing, there are hundreds of smaller ones in various stages of disrepair

The area of Axum is home to what was once seven large stelae, all decorated in the same style, with doors and windows and astral imagery at the top. The largest (still standing) is 21m high (70ft) but there were larger with the heaviest, now fallen and broken estimated to have originally weighed in at around 500 tons.