|
The oldest and most
impressive of Gondar’s imperial structures is the two-storeyed palace
of emperor Fasilidas, built of roughly hewn brown basalt stones
held together with mortar. Said to have been the work of an Indian
architect the building has a flat roof, a rectangular tower in the
south-west corner –which affords a distant view of lake Tana—four
smaller domed towers, and a battlemented parapet.
Other buildings in the ‘imperial quarter’ include
the library of Fasilidas’s son, emperor Yohannes I (1667-1682) ,
a cube –like two-storeyed structure with an outside staircase and
a parapeted flat roof; a nearby chancellery with a slender square
tower and another outside staircase; the saddle-shaped castle of
Yohannes’ son, Emperor iyasu I (1682-1706), with a somall conicl
tower and spiraled outer staircase; the large hall, or ‘house of
song’, of Emperor Dawit II (1716-1721), in which may ceremonies
once tool place; the long V-shaped reception and banqueting hall
of emperor Bakaffa (1722-1730); and the great two-storeyed palace,
charmingly decorated with Ethiopian crosses n mauve-coloured tuff,
of the latter’s redoubtable consort Empress Mentewab. The palace
compound is also the site of he grave of one the most remarkable
nineteenth-century foreign travelers to Ethiopia: Emperor Tewodros’s
close friend Walter plowden, a sometime British consul.
In addition to the fine structures in the imperial compound, visitors
should see the palace of Ras Mika’el Sehul and the house of the
Echege. The second most important official of he Ethiopian church.
This little-known building is located in one of the humbler parts
of the town and is known to many only by its urban registration
number ; hourse No .1,Kebele 11.it can be reached by a short but
interesting walk through town.
Several notable Gondarine structures are to be
seen outside town. The most impressive, located in the Kaha Ricer
valley south of Gondar, is a well-preserved ‘ bathing palace’ variously
attributed to Fasilidas or Iyasu I .It stands in a rectangular,
neatly walled depression, which is filled with wter once a year
for the Timikat, or Epiphany, celebrations, and, though popularly
referred to as a ‘bathing palace’, was probably constructed for
such celebrations.
Rulers of his era also developed the area in the hills north-west
of the town—called kweskwam after the home of the Virgin Mary—as
a kind of ‘capitol hill’ for government buildings. Most are now
ruins, including the largest—a square, three-storeyed castle with
a flat parapet roof and battlemented walls, embellished with a series
of bas-reliefs of various Ethiopian animals. Visitors to the church
here can, on request, see many fine old Gondarine manuscripts, and
enter a crypt containing the skeletal remains of the famous eighteenth-century
Empress Mentewab, her son Emperor Iyasu II, and grand son Emperor
Iyo’as.
Gondar was the site of numerous fine churches,
a number of which have survived to this day. Perhaps the finest
of the Gondarine churches is that of Debre Birhan Selassie or ‘Light
of the trinity’ which stands on raised ground about a half an hour’s
walk to the north-east. An imposing rectangular structure, its ceilings
are decorated with beautiful winged angels and its walls with impressive
scenes depicting biblica events, including the lives of Christ,
Mary, the saints and the martyrs.
Offering starling contrast to the churches and
castles of Ethiopian’s Christina history, the romantic walled city
of Harar provides a glimpse in to the country’s equally fascinating
Islamic past.
Hara, the capital of the Harerge region, came into
formal existence in 1520 when a local amir, abu Bekr Mahomed, moved
his capital there from Dakar, site of an older near by settlement.
His rule, however, was soon cut short, for he was murdered five
years later by Ahmend Gragn, or Ahmed the Left-Handed. Gragn left
his homeland in 1530-31 to begin a jihad, or holy war, against the
Christian Ethiopian empire. He overran much of it, but, as a result
of Portuguese intervention, was defeated and killed in 1543.
The city, impoverished by war, faced many difficulties.
The oromo advanced into the surrounding countryside. This isolated
Harar and caused Gragn’s nephew and successor, Nur ibnal-Wazir Mujahid,
to erect strong encircling walls, which ever since that time have
been one of the city’s most dominant features.
Harar also was –and still is –well known for its
Islamic learning and scholarship, as well as its handicrafts, including
weaving, basket-making, and book-binding. Harar is also famed for
its silversmiths.
A bright splash of colour is provided by the Harari
women strolling through town, often dressed in red, purple, or black
dresses with velvet trousers and bright oranges shawls and balancing
heavy bundles of clothe or baskets on their heads.
Places of inter3st inside the city include the
impressive centuries-old walls themselves, which had five gates
until 1889, when the Ethiopians built two more: the Gate of the
Duke and the Berbera Gate. The latter was closed by the Italians,
but the former is where the main street enters into the old city.
Also of interest is Ras makonnen’s stately old palace and the Jami
Mosque, which dates back to the seventeenth century. The mosque’s
slender minaret, however was built in 1761-62. Women are not allowed
to enter and photography is or permitted.
Near the mosque is the fine, large Rimbaud House—said
(incorrectly) to have once been occupied by the famous French poet
of that name.
On the north side of the town’s interesting Muslim
market is a small, white mosque-like structure, the tomb of Abu
Said Ali, and early muslim religious leader of the town. Beneath
his tomb is said to be a well which can provide water for the entire
town in case of siege.
From the remains of the first humans to amazing
manifestations of religious allegiance, Ethiopia is truly a country
with an unforgotten table ‘living past’ .
|
