Gorgora and the Susneyos Palace

Bahir Dar is a town set on the south-eastern shore of Lake Tana, where local fishermen still use papyrus boats. It is situated 37 kms from the spectacular Tisisat Falls. Here the Blue Nile creates "Smoking Water" an awe-inspiring sight as it plunges into the gorge below.

From Bahir Dar one must explore some of the ancient monasteries that have been built on the islands of Lake Tana, or on the many Islands. These include Dega Estephanos with its priceless collections of icons, as well as the remains of several medieval Emperors, Kebran Gabriel and Ura Kidane Mehret with its famous frescoes.

Kebran Gabriel is the principal monastery visited by male tourists from Bahir Dar, with its impressive Cathedral-like building first built at the end of the 17th century. Dega Estephanos, which is also closed to women, is on the island in the Lake, and the monastery is reached by a very steep and winding path. Although the church is relatively new (only hundred years old), it houses a Madonna painted in the 15th century. However, the treasury of the monastery is a prime attraction, with the remains of several Emperors, as well as their robes and jewels.

Near Gorgora, at the northern end of the Lake, the Susneyos palace is a forerunner of the magnificent palaces and castles of Gondar, and dates from the region of Emperor Susneyos. The sixteenth century Susneyos Palace served as a 'blueprint' for the famous palaces of Gondar. It was built by Catholic missionaries for Emperor Susneyos, founder of the Gondar dynasties.

During the reign of Emperor Susneyos (1606-1632) Bahir Dar attracted the interest of the Jesuits, who erected a tall (for that time) two-storey building in the compound of Saint George's church. This place of worship was renowned far and wide, so much so that the settlement was often spoken of as Bahir Dar Giyorgis. In the same area is the medieval church of the Debre Sina Mariam.

Byzantine influence on Gondarene Art

Gondar's founding occurred a little less than a century after Ethiopian Christendom came close to total destruction at the hands of the Islamic warlord, Ahmed Gragn, whose forces swept in from the east in 1528. Gragn's war on Ethiopian Christians was a catastrophe for the Ethiopian Christian church. The Christian highlands, from Axum in the north to the shores of Lake Tana in the west, were almost completely overrun for more than a decade and much of the cultural legacy of previous centuries disappeared. Hundreds of churches and artistic treasure houses were looted and burnt and the booty carried away. There is little doubt that Fasilidas and his successors saw their capital as a phoenix and so patronized the arts – they were rebuilding their culture and heritage.

Sculpture seems to have very few artisans and patrons in Ethiopia while there is a fascination with painting. It dates back to the beginnings of the Christian era at least; but the plundering of invaders meant that relatively little from earlier than the sixteenth century has been preserved.
The medieval school of Ethiopian painting was dominated by Byzantine influences, which is to say the Byzantine style of art, not necessarily Byzantium itself (whenever Byzantine art is used in this post it is referring to the style not the location). With the rise of this new capital and art patronage, the Gondarene artistic period formed from the historical tradition (Byzantine).

Byzantine art is marked by more symbolic approach to the subject matter as opposed to, say, Classical art, which attempts to be more realistic and less symbolic. The subject matter of Byzantine art is more often than not religious (Christian) or royal in nature. The most commonly seen examples of Byzantine art are usually mosaics and murals from churches or icons. Icons often depicted the Virgin with the Christ Child and, sometimes flanked by saints and angels. An Ethiopian example of an icon can be seen in this tempera on panel example, entitled Diptych with Virgin and Child flanked by archangels, apostles, and Saint George, from the late 15th century.




The Byzantine style of art can be identified by numerous characteristics. These are, but are not limited to:
1. The use of rich, bright colors (often the colors found in a Crayola 8-box of crayons)
2. Flat figures that seem to float on the surface and are piled on in a frontal pose
3. Detail is avoided and drapery is often simple and curvilinear
4. Large eyes and one facial type
5. Gold background

Many of these characteristics are seen in this mural that stretches across the ceiling at The Debre Berhan Selassie Church in Gondar. The ceiling is covered by hundreds of faces with wings (angels). All of them are a flat (2) facial type with large eyes (3) depicted with bright colors (1) on a gold background (5).

Even today much of the art in Ethiopia continues to reflect the cultural tradition that was reinvented at Gondar.

Gondar

Fasilidas was the emperor of Ethiopia (a hereditary position abolished in 1975) and a member of the Solomonic dynasty.  That dynasty is the traditional Imperial House of Ethiopia which claims descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who is said to have given birth to King Menelik I (the first traditional king) after her visit to Solomon in Jerusalem.  Fasilidas is credited with founding Gondar in the mid-1630s.  Gondar is often called the Camelot of Africa becasue of its numerous medieval castles.  It is also famous for the incredible Gondarene art that graces its churches in the form of Byzantine murals -- the most famous of which is Debra Berhan Selassie.

The main castle was built in the late 1630s and early 1640s by the Emperor, who had architectural inspirations.  St Mary's of Zion in Axum, Ethiopia (seen below) is another one of his architectural creations.

Fasilidas was also responsible for seven of Gondar's 40+ churches , numerous bridges, a pavilion and a sunken bathing place,  which is still filled during the Timkat season with water from the nearby Qaha river.  Other structures date from later periods.   The grandson of Fasilidas,Iyasu the Great’s castle was described at the time by his chronicler as finer than the House of Solomon.  Its inner walls were said to have been decorated with ivory, mirrors and paintings  its ceiling was covered with gold-leaf and precious stones.  All of which has long sine vanished from th now gutted castle.

Iyasu's most impressive achievement may be the Church of Debre Berhan Selassie, the Light of the Trinity, which is still used as a church.  

While the building itself is plain, comprised of a simple thatched structure on the outside, the interior is painted with many religious and historical scenes.  The ceiling is painted with more than 80 angels’ faces all.  The north wall holds a depiction of the Trinity above the crucifixion.  The south wall has a mural of St Mary; that of the east wall the life of Jesus; the west wall shows saints.

It is believed that Fasilidas chose this location and name based on a legend which holds that an archangel prophesied that an Ethiopian capital would be built at a place with a name that began with the letter G.  This led to a number sixteenth and seventeenth century locations named, Guzara, Gorgora and Gondar.  Another legend says that while Fasilidas was out hunting God told him of the place that the capital was to be built and Fasilidas followed a buffalo to the spot.

Following the assassination of Iyasu I by his son, Tekla Haimanot came a struggle for control of the imperial throne during which period no significant structures where built.  Tekla Haimanot was murdered, the next successor was forcibly deposed and the next poisoned.  This all stopped when  Bakaffa came to the throne.  He left two castles -- one attributed to him and the other to his consort, the Empress Mentewab.

Iyasu II, Bakaffa's successor is considered the last of the Emperors of Gondar to rule with full authority.  During his reign, work began on new buildings outside the main palace compound as well as a city on the hills to the north-west of the city center known as Kweskwam.

Gondar remained the capital until 1855.  The city was a center of religious learning and art. Painting and music, dance and poetry, together with skilled instruction in these and many other disciplines, thrived for more than 200 years.  At the end of the eighteenth century a poet wrote:

Beautiful from its beginnings, Gondar, hope of the wretched!

And hope of the Great, Gondar without measure or bounds! 

0 dove of John, Gondar, generous-hearted, mother! 

Gondar, never bowed by affliction! 

Gondar with its merry name! 

Gondar, seat of prosperity and of savoury food!

Gondar, dwelling of King Iyasu and of mighty Bakaffa!

Gondar, which emulated the City of David, the land of Salem!

She will be a myth unto eternity!