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| 0937 Fasil Ghebbi - The curtain wall |
Posted on 07.03.2012, 02.01.2014, and 07.12.2015
Fasil Ghebbi is a fortress-enclosure in Gondar, a city nicknamed The Camelot of Africa and located in southwest of the Simien Mountains, on the northern plateau of Tana, at 2,133m above sea level. In the 16th and 17th centuries it was the residence of the Ethiopian emperor Fasilides and his successors. Surrounded by a 900m-long wall, the city contains palaces, churches, monasteries and unique public and private buildings marked by Hindu, Nubian and Arab influences, subsequently transformed by the Baroque style brought to Gondar by the Jesuit missionaries. The complex is enclosed by a curtain wall with twelve gates.
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| 0139 Fasil Ghebbi - The ceremonial bathing place of emperor Fasilades |
The main castle of the complex, a three sections (two stories) castle with square plan, surrounded by later fortresses, was built in the late 1630s and early 1640s on the orders of Fasilides, and is the most magnificent and elegant building of Gondar. With its huge towers and looming battlemented walls, it resembles a piece of medieval Europe transposed to Ethiopia. It seams that Fasilides was also responsible for the building of a number of other structures, probably the oldest being the Enqulal Gemb (Egg Castle), so named on account of its egg-shaped domed roof.
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| 2106 Fasil Ghebbi - Debre Berhan Selassie Church - The ceilling with rows of winged cherubs |
The Bathing Palace is a two-storeyed battlemented structure situated within and on one side of a rectangular pool, whichis filled with water only during Timkat (baptism), the Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of Epiphany, celebrated on the 10th day of Terr following the Ethiopian calendar. The bathing pavilion itself stands on pier arches, and contains several rooms reached by a stone bridge. During the ceremonies, the tabot, a model of the Ark of the Covenant, is wrapped in rich cloth and born in procession. The Divine Liturgy is celebrated on around 2 a.m. near the pool, and the water is blessed and sprinkled on the participants, symbolizing the baptism. By noon the tabot is escorted back to its church in colorful procession.
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