Tigray is recognized as the cradle of the ancient Ethiopian civilization. The Yeha temple and the Axumite monolithic steleas testify to this. Numerous archeological sites underline the long history of the region, where the first Christian state in the world was established in the fourth century. Thus the old churches of Tigray are the testimony
Ethiopia has reputedly known as the Christian Kingdom hence most literature works widely promote and give a detailed insight into the Christian heritages. However, the world’s first Islamic community was established not on the Arabian Peninsula (the land of the prophet’s birth) but in Africa at a place called Negash in the kingdom of Axum
After the decline of the Axumite empire, lamenting their lost grandeur, Ethiopia’s rulers retreated with their Christian subjects to the lofty escarpment of the central uplands. There, protected by mountain battlements more formidable than anything the hand of man could fashion, they were able to repel an increasingly expansionist and militant Islam trapping and confusing
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 Gondarian school of art. Flanked by twin mountain streams at an altitude of more than 2,300 meters Gondar commands spectacular views
Lake Tana has thirty-seven islands, twenty of which are home to churches and monasteries. Some of them dated back to the 13th century and many others are dated from the 14th century to the Gonderine period of the 17th and 18th centuries. Many of the original churches of Lake Tana are said to be renovated
AXUM, the site of Ethiopian most ancient city, is today a small town blissfully 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