ETHIOPIA

Our journey to Northern Ethiopia took place during the autumn semester between February 17th and March 17th. Together with my colleagues Ondřej Hnilica and Matěj Mikloš, we began our trip with our first major stop, located in the capital city of Addis Ababa (i.e. New flower). Our goal was to visit a library at the local university – Goethe Institut a Le Centre français des études éthiopiennes (CFEE). We also had a chance to come in contact with the local mentality and food, and visited several churches as well as the National Museum of Ethiopia (NME) and the Ethnological Museum, where a unique collection of panel altars from the whole of Ethiopia – dated from the 10th to the 20th centuries – is held. However, the main purpose of our trip was to study the unique medieval sacral architecture in Ethiopia.

First, we took a bus to Lalibela/Roha (circa 350 km), where there is an impressive complex of thirteen churches cut into tuff rocks below ground level. The complex is Ethiopia’s most important pilgrimage site, commissioned by King Lalibela and constructed over many centuries – from the 2nd until the 13th. These churches are connected via an intricate system of tunnels and trenches. Its multivocal symbolism references the creation of a replica of Holy Jerusalem and the cult of Saint Lalibela, which was developed in the 13th century. For instance, there is a copy of the pillar from the Temple of Jerusalem, also known as Amda Berhan (the Pillar of Light), and the church of the Holy Sepulchre with replicas of Adam’s and Christ’s tombs. The largest church, Bet Medhane Alem, (33 × 23 m) is considered the world’s greatest monolithic construction. The interiors of all the churches are covered with panel paintings of saints and carved ornamental decoration imitating stucco. Since 2005, the entire complex has been protected by UNESCO.

Our journey continued further north – to the Gheralta mountains in the region of Tigray, where numerous rock churches with different layouts can be found. Visiting these churches was the pivotal moment of the whole expedition. So far, there have been 120 churches discovered in field research. However, many of them are still waiting to be explored, and only three of them were known before 1966. The localisation of sacral objects is challenging, considering the absence of the written sources after 1280 and that reliable maps do not exist to this day. My choice was limited to a group of large rock pseudo-basilicas cut into the carbon sandstone: Abreha wa Atsbeha (6th–12th centuries, reconstructed after a fire in the 17th century), Abbuna Yemata (15th century), the last large pseudo-basilica in Tigray, Jean Maaquidi (17th century), Degum, and above all Maryam Qorqor (13th–15th centuries?) with a side chapel dedicated to the patron of the founder, Daniel, which is one of the best-preserved monuments there. As we climbed towards these churches, we enjoyed a beautiful view of the Hawzien plain. The pillars and walls of these churches are entirely covered with ornamental reliefs and paintings. However, these are not frescos but paintings on cotton canvases, attached to the wall. Among the main themes, we can find scenes from the Old Testament and the lives of local saints, together with scenes depicting people’s daily lives in Ethiopia (common from the 15th century on), which remained almost unchanged for 1000 years, especially in rural regions. To overcome the distance between certain locations, we used various transport options, including buses and hitch-hiking.

Another important place our journey took us to was the village of Yeha, located close to the Hawzien plain. It was the first capital of Ethiopia, with a great number of spacious palaces, tombs and temples in antiquity. Nowadays, there is significant archaeological research taking place in Yeha. We were able to look at the country’s most ancient temple interior – the Temple of the Moon from the 6th century BC. The architectural curiosity is that the whole building was constructed by icing the sandstone without any mortar.

In nearby Axum, we had a chance to admire the remarkable stela carved in syenite quarried from Gobedra during the period of the Axum empire (circa 2nd c. BC – 9th c. AD). The next trip led us to Gondar. This city was initially founded as a residence for the Emperor Fasilidas in 1636, who restored the orthodox church’s authority. The most important monument in Gondar is the Fasil Ghebbi castle (1634). The creation of such a remarkable place was made possible by the cooperative work of European and Indian architects. A wide spectrum of inspirational sources were used within the Fasil Ghebbi castle – from Hinduistic to Baroque and Arabic. Forty-four churches, Turkish baths, and many palaces were erected within this enormous complex in the same period. Today, their existence is documented only by some fragments. We tried to save at least a few days during our journey. It was clear we couldn’t leave without seeing the monastic architecture on the islands on Tana Lake. After arrival at Gorgora, the port city on the northern shore of the lake, we arranged a boat to take us to the ruins of the former Jesuit monastery Fremona (1624), which is located in the middle of the grain fields of the local inhabitant – Nagada. The next day, we went to Bahir Dar on the opposite shore of the lake. Afterward, we continued our voyage across the islands and admired the local flora and fauna, including local fishermen on papyrus boats called tankwa.

Our round trip through Northern Ethiopia came to its end in the capital city Addis Ababa, where we had spent our last few days. We enjoyed the local food, social life, the largest marketplace in Africa – Merkato, and also visited places we had never even heard of.