Mystical Ethiopia

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Historical Places

Axum

Aum, Ethiopia's most ancient city, and the capital of the historic Axumite state, is the site of many remarkable monolithic stone obelisks. The tree most important are decorated to represent multi-storied buildings, complete with doors and windows. The largest obelisk, which was 35 meters long and weighted 500 tons, is the biggest piece of stone ever cut by humanity anywhere in the world, but today lies broken on the ground. Near it stands a smaller, but nevertheless most impressive, 24 meters high obelisk, which is the pride of Ethiopia. A somewhat larger obelisk was taken to Rome, on the personal orders of the Italian fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, in 1937, but its return to Axum is imminently expected. Plans are also under consideration for the re-erection of the great fallen obelisk.

Axum, in its day, was a great commercial center, issuing its own currency, and trading with Egypt, Arabia, Persia, India, and even Ceylon. The settlement was also the site of Ethiopia's oldest church, which dated from the coming of Christianity as the state religion, in the early fourth century. The original building has long since disappeared, but a structure erected on its site, by Emperor Fasiladas in the early seventeenth century, is still extant. A nearby outhouse is the reputed repository of the Biblical Ark of the Covenant. This historic relic cannot be seen, but visitors there can see, and photograph, a number of the remarkable crowns, which belonged to several notable Ethiopian monarchs of the past. Just out of the town, the remains of an early Axumite palace, popularly thought to have belonged to the Queen of Sheeba, are well worth a visit. They are located at Dangur, near the mountain from which the obelisks were originally excavated. The beautifully worked tombs of several ancient Axumite rulers, and the local archaeological museum, are also worth a visit.

Debro Damo

Some four hours' drive from Axum- plus a further two hours' stiff uphill walk from the point where the road ends- lies the spectacular monastery of Debre Damo, situated on an isolated clifftop in one of the wildest parts of Tigray. Debro Damo is unique and unforgettable. The bluff on which Damo stands is a real-life Shangri-La. Remote and beautiful, far from the hustle and bustle of the twenty-first century, the cool celestial island of rock offers panoramic views over the surrounding countryside and complete seclusion and peace for the hundred or so monks and deacons who live there. The monastery's treasures include an extensive collection of illuminated manuscripts and the intricate carvings on the beams and ceiling of the ancient church around which the monastery is built.

Gondar

Gondar, which Emperor Fasiladas founded as his capital in 1636, is the site of numerous castle-like palaces, dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The city was Ethiopian's capital until the reign of the would-be reforming Emperor Tewdros II, also known as Theodore. During the long years when it was a capital the settlement emerged as one of the largest, and most populous, cities in the realm. It was a great commercial center, trading with rich lands south of the Blue Nile, as well as with Sudan, to the west, and, to the north-east, the Red Sea port of Massawa. Though predominantly Christian, and the abode of the highest Church dignitaries in the land, the town's inhabitants included many rich Muslim merchants, as well as a number of Falashas, or Judaic Ethiopians, also called Beta Israel, who were predominantly weavers, blacksmiths, and potters, as well as palace, and church, builders. Besides the famous palaces, in the royal compound, visitors should inspect the so-called Bathing Palace of Emperor Fasiladas, which is used for the annual Timkat, or Epiphany, celebrations; the ruins of the palace, and abbey, of the redoubtable eighteen century Empress Mentewab, at Qwesquam, in the mountains just outside Gondar; and the church Debra Berhan Sellassie, with its remarkable ceiling decorated with winged angels.

Bahar Dar

The thirty seven islands of Lake Tana, Ethiopia's largest lake, shelter twenty monasteries- surviving remnants of an old, contemplative tradition. The power of the Blue Nile may best be appreciated at the Blue Nile Falls, the most dramatic spectacle on either the White or Blue Niles, a vision of natural strength and grandeur. For the modern traveler, the starting point of any visit to the Blue Nile Falls, or to the islands of Lake Tana, is the bustling market town of Bahar Dar on the lake's south-eastern shore. The colorful markets and a variety of handicrafts and weaving centers make it comfortable base for excursion- either by land or water. Bahar Dar port provides access by boat to a number of historic lakeside churches and monasteries, near and far. Most date from the seventeenth century and have beautifully painted walls. Many such places of worship now have fascinating museums, at which the visitor can see priceless illustrated manuscripts, historic crowns and fine royal and ecclesiastical robes. Some monastic islands are forbidden to women, but others can be visited by both sexes. Visitords to Bahar Dar can also see tankwas, locally made canoes, made out of the papyrus reeds growing by the lake shore, as well as an historic old building erected, in St George's church compound, by the seventeenth century Spanish Jesuit, Pero Paes.

Lalibela

Hundreds of miles to the south and east of Axum is another ancient settlement. Lalibela, which is also famous for its architecture. Lalibela is acity carved from legend a medieval settlement in the Lasta area of Wallo that is the site of eleven remarkable rock-hewn monolithic churches, believed to have been built by King Lalibela in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century. These notable structures are carved inside and outside of the solid rock, and are considered among the wonders of the world. Each building is architecturally unique, and several of them are decorated with fascinating rock paintings. The unadulterated biblical atmosphere and vivid local colour of the Timket celebrations provide an ideal opportunity to see Lalibela as sacred center whose roots go back to man's very earliest years. Lalibela lies in the center of an extensive complex of rock churches. Some can be reached by a one or two hours' drive. Others are fully days' journey away.

Harar

The ancient walled city of Harar was for many centuries a major commercial center. Trading with the Ethiopia interior, the Gulf of Aden ports, and many Easter lands, it had its own language, Harari, or Adare, which was spoken only within its walls, and issued its own currency. The city was moreover also a great center of Islamic learning. it was furthermore renowned for its remarkable handicrafts, notably its fine weaving, and its beautiful-bound manuscripts. These were rated as virtually without equal in the Islamic world. Harar, a town of mosques, minarets, and holy shrines, is also remembered, in Europe, as a city visited, in the mid-nineteenth century, by the British Orientalist, Sir Richard Burton, translator of the Thousand and One Nights. The settlement was later the abode, a generation or so later, of the renowned French poet, Arthur Rimbaud. No journey along Ethiopia fabled historic route would be complete without a visit to the medieval walled city of Harar, which stands amid green mountains on the east wall of the great ift Valley. Harar's heritage is almost entirely Muslim and Oriental. Harar has probably always had a great deal more in common with the Horn's coastal culture than with the life of the highlands and its retains to this day a certain redolence of the Orient. With its 90 mosques and shrines, Harar is considered to be the fourth most sacred center of the Islamic world. Its Islamic character is best expressed in the Grand Mosque ( Al Jami), which dominates the town.

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