HISTORICAL SITES
LALIBELA AND THE ROCK-HEWN CHURCHES  The 14 Rock-Hewn Churches found in Lalibela are unofficially considered to be the 8th wonders of the world for their complex, gigantic and inventive appearance. Some deem that there was a supernatural intervention regarding how they were built, especially given the era it was built.
Lalibela is a strikingly singular town. The setting alone is glorious. Even if you have visited other rock-hewn churches in Ethiopia ; nothing will prepare you for the one's you see here. Lalibela would rightly be celebrated as one of the wonders of the world, as readily identified with Ethiopia as are the pyramids or the sphinx with Egypt. What makes this curiously medieval town so special, is not just the rock - hewn churches carved from single solid rock that have survived into the modern era, but also what they are, and what they have been for at least 800 years as an active Christian shrine and the spiritual center of a town's religious life.
HARAR AND THE CITY GATES
GONDAR
FASSIL GHEBBI
AXUM
CATHEDRAL OF TSION MARYAM
YEHA TEMPLE
CHURCH OF DEBRE BIRHAN SELASSIE
THE MONASTERIES OF SOUTH CENTRAL LAKE TANA
TIYA
ABBA JIFFAR'S PALACE
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Harar is the most important holy hub of Ethiopian Muslims. Presumably, it's the fourth holiest city in the world after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, with rich history and high concentration of mosques. The old city of Harar is protected by lofty walls that are constructed during the 1960s, to withstand the escalating expansion of the Oromo tribe that occupied much of Southern Ethiopia. There are six gates, the Harar and Showa Gate, which connects the old and the new towns and the rest are Buda Gate, Sanga Gate and Erer Gate. Other than the gates, Harar bids its Museum and Cultural Centre, Ras Mekonnen's Palace and certainly not to exclude, the hyena man who feed hyenas merely by passing them bones by his hand at times from his mouth.
Enclosed by lofty rock walls, the Fassil Ghebbi is situated at the core of current Gonder. It covers an area of 70,000m2 and encompasses six castles, linking channels, and several smaller buildings. The most celebrated castle is that of Fasilidas made of stone, and has some bearing on Axumite, Portuguese and Indian civilization. Other castles include Iyasu's Castle, Mentewab's Castle and Bakafa's Castle all of which with distinct form. Apart from the castle, the Royal Enclosure honor three churches, Gemjabet Maryam, Elfin Giyourgis and Asasame Kidus Mikael all made in high regard to Emperor Fasilidas.
Ethiopia's first church, Church of Maryam Tison, erected by the 4th century leader King Ezana consisted of 12 temples, which later has been destroyed either seemingly by the 16th-century Muslim leader Ahmed Gragn or by Queen Yodit's wicked riot. The replacement largest church in compound was built by Emperor Haile Selassie I during the 1960s as his wife Empress Menen built the museum next to the old church that has a great deal of crosses, crowns and other vital relics. Today, the foundations of one of the initial 12 temples are safe and sound, yet pending to be explored. This is also one of the churches in the world, claiming it’s the last resting place of the Ark of the Covenant.
Expected to have been constructed some 2,500 years ago, it stands 12m high consisting about 50 layers of stonework. It's unclear the sort of religion that was originally practiced in the temple however, in the early 6th century, it became the centre of Christian community. In the present day, it lays claim to having ancient enlightened manuscripts and crowns and it certainly is the top treasure house of Ethiopian churches..jpg)
Established by Iyasu I in the 1690s, it was the most important church in the 18th-century Gonder, as it became the site of several royal burials. Not only that, out of the 40 or plus original churches of Gonder, this is the only church that survived attack of Mahdist of Sudan. They say, the church to have escaped unlike the others was because, swarm of bees intercede where subsequently, the Mahdists left. The church contains inexhaustible paintings thought to be the work of 17th century artist Haile Meskel though some believe several other artists were involved too.
Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Tiya hosts more than 40 stones of up to 2m in height. The stone have obscure imprinted marks and, even their origin and for what they stand for is inexplicable. Some put forward the idea that the stones commemorate male and female who died at adult-age and; from the imprinted marks on the stones, blade-like figure is common in which they maintain it's indicative that the dead were soldiers. The highest of them all is 5m high and you can only find the foundation at the site, as the main body departed to Addis Ababa University.
