ST. GEORGE'S CATHEDRAL

This is Piazza's great cathedral, an Orthodox church dedicated to St. George, the patron saint of soldiers according to the Ethiopian cult. The visit, with an on-site guide included in the tour, lasts around 45 minutes. It was here that Haile Selassie was crowned Emperor (King of Kings) in 1930. The present building was built by Menelik to commemorate his historic victory at Adwa in 1896. In fact, he enlisted the help of Italians taken prisoner during the battle to build the cathedral, starting with the architect Sebastiano Castagna who designed it. During the march to Adwa, the Ethiopian troops carried two "tabots" (replicas of the Tables of the Law from the Ark of the Covenant - which, according to Ethiopian beliefs, is located at Sainte-Marie-de-Sion in Aksum - one from the Enbaro Mariam church, the other from Saint-Georges church). After the battle, each "tabot" was placed in a new church. The octagonal, domed church of Saint-Georges is decorated with mosaics and modern paintings, including those by the artist Aferwek Téklé, who created the stained-glass windows in the Africa Hall. In 1937, a year after their victory, the Italians set fire to the cathedral. It was restored in 1941 after the liberation of the country by the Allied forces.

Museum. The adjacent campanile, where the coronation of the Negus took place in 1930, is a museum dedicated to the rites and ceremonies of the Ethiopian Church, a place highly revered by Rastafarians. A fine collection of religious and imperial treasures.