Abbeys monasteries and convents Ethiopia

This is one of the highlights of a visit to the religious sites of Lake Tana, unfortunately reserved for men only. It's a 30-minute climb to reach the sanctuary from the small boat harbor. Allow around 1h30 for the round trip. The monastery-church on an islet is home to the largest monastic community on the lake: some two hundred monks are recluses here. Legend has it that the monastery was founded by a saint in 1268, sailing on a stone boat, which can still be seen halfway along the path. Restored in the ^19th century, the sanctuary preserves, alongside contemporary paintings, canvases and paintings from the prosperous ^15th and ^16th centuries. But that's not why visitors come here. The centerpiece are the mummified bodies of Ethiopian sovereigns, encased in glass sarcophagi. The reason for the presence of the remains of emperors who reigned during the long Gondaran dynasty remains unclear. Here lie the remains of Yekouno Amlak (^13th century), Dawit ^I and Zara Yakob (^15th century), Libne Dingle (^16th century) and Fasiladas (^17th century). Having collapsed several years ago, the monastery is still being rebuilt and the monks are hard at work. The mummies can be seen in a small temporary museum at the top of the hill. No explanations in English or any other language on site, so take a guide to Bahar Dar if you want to find out more.

The nearest monastery island, Bahar Dar, is around 30 minutes away by boat. It is home to a community of some forty monks in a serene wooded environment. The church, rebuilt in the ^17th century, features a series of paintings in a poor state of preservation, but of great interest. Nearby, a small, well-appointed museum displays a collection of crosses and manuscripts of the utmost importance. The library is said to contain over 200 of them! The monk in charge of the tour is full of explanations.

Along with Dabra Damo, the Gishen monastery is one of the most venerated in Ethiopia. Founded, according to legend, in the^5th century under King Khaleb, it is most famous for the important relics it houses. From Dessié, it takes about a day to get there and visit the site. The beauty of the site and the original shape of the Gishen plateau flanked by four sanctuaries, three of which are symbolically erected to the north, south and west, following the layout of Ethiopian church doors, justify the excursion. According to tradition, it was in the ^14th century, during the reign of King Dawit (1379-1413), that important relics arrived in Ethiopia, including a fragment of the true cross, probably from Constantinople, where it had been brought from Jerusalem by Queen Helena. At the time, there was a festival in this city celebrating the cross, which is undoubtedly the origin of the Ethiopian festival of Masqal, which attracts thousands of pilgrims here every year. King Zara Yaqob (1434-1468), son of Dawit, searched long and hard for the ideal place to house the precious artifacts, eventually choosing the amba (tabular plateau) of Gishen, predestined by its cruciform topography. Locked away in four successive caskets of iron, bronze, silver and gold, the fragment of the cross has rested to this day in a twenty-metre-deep shaft, hidden from view, beneath the Egziaber Ab church. Along with the Ark of the Covenant, this myth constitutes the second great enigma of the sacred possessions claimed by the Ethiopian Church.

A shrill hiss echoes from the path between two rock faces. According to legend, this is a snake imprisoned in the cliff by the monastery's founder. It was from here that the holy man is said to have thrown a tree trunk into the river, symbolizing the vanquished monster, and vowed to build a sanctuary on the spot where it would be washed ashore. This monastery was at the head of a monastic network considered heretical in the ^15th century, the stephanite movement, which refused the Marian cult imposed by the king. It remained a major intellectual center.