Ethiopia, as evidences indicate, has over 50,000 natural, cultural and historical heritages registered at national level. 10 of these were inscribed on the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) world heritage list.
Among them found the must see wonders of Lalibela, Axum, the Historical town of Harar, Konso cultural landscape, Lower Valleys of Omo and Awash, Semen National Park in tangible category and Meskel, Fiche Chambalala and the Gada system under intangible cultural heritages.
Ethiopia is the leading country in Africa for registering over ten tangible and intangible heritages by UNESCO and many more heritages are on the pipeline to join the prestigious list.
The government, in the second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) years, has set plan to inscribe 14 heritages on UNESCO’s world heritage list. To this effect, various activities that promote, protect, save and keep these tangible and intangible heritages have been undertaken in a manner ensuring the economic benefits of the community and the country as a whole.
Equally, by expanding hotels and lodges around the natural sites and historical routes, availing internet services, roads infrastructure and other accommodations activities, efforts have been carried out for this same purpose.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, with the aim to inscribe these wonders and ensure sustainable tourism development, has been undertaking various research and studies in the area. As part of this, hence, last month, it has submitted a proposal to the UNESCO world heritage tentative list under ‘The Sacred Landscape of Tigray,’ to inscribe the heritatges.
The proposal revealed that Tigray State is a home to 121 Rock-Hewn churches, believed to represent the single largest group of Rock-Hewn architecture in the world. Eighty of these churches, dating from the 5th to 14th centuries AD, as well as a small number of masonry-and-timber built churches, which include some of the oldest timber structures surviving worldwide (6th – 10th centuries AD), are located in the landscapes of the region.
The proposed serial nomination consists of three separate zones containing groups of Rock-Hewn churches in spectacular natural landscapes located in Central and East Zones in the Eastern half of Tigray State.
The Sacred Landscape of Gheralta lies to the North West, consisting of a mountain massif to the West of Wukro, North of the regional capital of Mekelle. The Sacred Landscape of Tembienis a mountain range lying to the South East of Gheralta and to the East of Mekelle. The Sacred Landscape of Atsbi is an upland area to the East of Gheralta, on the eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands, with flat-topped mountains or hills and deep-incised valleys.
As the proposal stated, a significant number of churches have wall-paintings and many retain treasures in the form of manuscripts, portable paintings and liturgical objects, including examples which have survived from the middle ages, especially in churches which form the core of living monasteries.
The Rock-Hewn churches in these three areas are almost entirely sculpted into Ambaradam Formation, Adigrat Sandstone and Enticho Sandstone. The physiography or landscape is an intimate expression of the underlying geology. The spectacular landscape of Geralta, Tembien and Atsbi. is an expression of the geological and geomorphological processes at regional and local scales. Understanding the geology and associated long and short-term processes is a prerequisite for future monitoring and conservation of the monuments.
Gheralta Sacred Landscape
The Gheralta Sacred Landscape, which consists of the Gheralta Ridge and the twenty-eight Rock-Hewn monuments carved into the sandstone, represents the first phase of the serial nomination. The geology of the Gheralta area is characterized by Precambrian rocks, Permo-Carboniferous sedimentary rocks, Middle Jurassic-Triassic to Early Cretaceous sedimentary rocks.
The churches in this locality area are all carved into Enticho Sandstone or into Adigrat Sandstone. Enticho and Edaga Arbi are glacial in origin (shale and tillites). Adigrat sand stone, which overlies these glacial origin rocks, is typically yellowish to pink, fine to medium grained, well sorted and cross-bedding and quartz rich. In places Adigrat sandstone is calcareous especially toward the top and near contact with the overlying carbonate rich units. Gheralta is a long ridge, with sides which are near vertical. These steep pillars are the last remnants of a thick sandstone plateau, now mostly eroded away, which were deposited in the Paleozoic as sediments washing out from large Gondwanan glaciers and they are found directly on top of folded, metamorphosed Precambrian gneiss.
In places, basalt lava has pushed through a crack in the sandstone, forming a narrow intrusion, or dyke, which has then eroded away more rapidly than the sandstone, resulting in narrow passageways which lead into the sandstone massifs and act as informal stairways to a number of the churches.
The Rock-Hewn monuments of Gheralta, which are located at altitudes varying from approx. 2100 -2500 meters above sea level, have been carved into various levels of the sandstone, from the bottom to the top of the outcrop. The monuments were excavated at different dates over a period of 1,500 years, from the 5th – 14th centuries AD. Located in a spectacular landscape of great scenic beauty, access to many of them is extremely challenging and in some cases involves climbing vertical surfaces utilizing handholds and footholds cut into the rock, or by walking along a narrow ledge with a vertical drop below.
Some of the earliest may originally have been tombs excavated during the period of the Axumite Empire (ended c. 700 AD) and were converted to religious use at a later period. The structures Hewn out of the rock to serve as churches from the firsts have plans with columns, arches, beams and domes which imitate conventional masonry and timber construction.
Many of the churches contain wall-paintings, dating from 13th – 19th centuries. All churches remain in use, performing their original religious function, and many contain religious treasures in the form of manuscripts, portable paintings, crosses, crowns, sistra, drums and other religious artifacts.
Tembien Sacred Landscape
The Tembien Sacred Landscape incorporates twenty-eight Rock-Hewn churches. The geology of the Tembien area is characterized by Precambrian basement rocks, Permo-Carboniferous sedimentary rocks, Middle Jurassic-Triassic to Early Cretaceous sedimentary rocks and Cenozoic basalts. Among the Precambrian rocks, the Tembien Group (limestone, slates, and dolomites) and the Tsaliet Group (Meta-volcanics) are predominant. Generally in Tigray low-grade, meta-volcanic, meta-volcanoclastic, and meta-sedimentary rocks are intruded by syn- to late-tectonic granitoids and the meta-volcanic and meta-volcanoclastic rocks together forming the largest unit.
The Rock-Hewn churches in these localities are sculpted into Enticho sandstone, Adigrat sandstone and Amba Aradam sandstone. Enticho sandstone is characterized by white, medium-grained sandstone, coarsely cross-bedded with silty beds and some iron rich layers. Adigrat sandstone in the Tembien area is soft and friable, with variegated color (yellowish to reddish, and pinkish) and generally well-sorted. Toward the upper part of the unit it is generally whitish, friable, and well sorted.
Amba Aradam sandstone is consisting of conglomerates, shell and its color varies from whitish, purple, reddish to yellowish. It is generally coarse grained, friable to compact in strength. Tembien Dega, the highlands, consists of several mountain chains, cut by high passes which allow travel through the area. Erosion has formed spectacular rock bastions and pinnacles of various shapes and colors.
The Rock-Hewn churches date principally to the second half of the middle ages and are a product of the monastic renaissance which characterized the period. In contrast to the Gheralta and Atstbi Sacred Landscapes, the rock-hewn churches of Tembien therefore form a coherent group in terms of age and function. This is reflected in the fact that many of the churches belong to living monasteries.
They are located at altitudes of approx. 1200 – 2800 meters above sea level, at a lower altitude than the Gheralta and Atsbi landscapes. Cycles of wall-paintings are few in number, but a notable exception if the church of Abba Yohanni, which contains both 15th-century wall-paintings and an impressive later series in the first Gondar style, dating to the early 17th century. Many of the churches possess important ecclesiastical treasures, especially manuscripts and crosses, including significant examples of medieval date.
Atsbi Sacred Landscape
The Atsbi Sacred Landscape lies at the eastern edge of the highland plateau, at the top of the escarpment which falls away into the Danakil Depression, parts of which lie below sea level. The area includes twenty-four rock-hewn churches, as well as three very early timber-and-masonry built churches.
Atsbi Horst is composed of Precambrian rocks (e.g. meta-sediment, meta-conglomerate, Meta-greywacke, etc.) overlying by Permo-Carboniferous sedimentary rocks, Middle Jurassic-Triassic to Early Cretaceous sedimentary rocks (Enticho Sandstone and Adigrat sandstone), in places include dark brown ferruginous/ lateritic beds. The sandstone in the Atsbi area forms Mesa and butte into which most of the churches are sculpted. Steep-sided ambas (flat-topped mountains) rise out of the highland plateau and it is in their cliff faces that the rock-hewn churches are generally to be found, located at altitudes of between approx.2500 and 2900 metres above sea level.
Rock-Hewn churches include the large, five-bay, basilica of Mikael Amba, of 8th – 10thcenturies AD, which incorporates important early woodwork dating to the original excavation of the church. Other significant Rock-Hewn churches include Mikael Barka, Mikael Mitsua and Abuna AregawiAfa’anti. The church of Debra Selam Mikael is a cave church of timber-and-masonry construction with the upper parts and the rear wall carved out of the solid rock, and so is partially Rock-Hewn. Tcherqos Agabo is a small timber-and-masonry church built against a rock overhang. Zarema Giyorgis is a free-standing-built structure. These three churches are amongst the oldest in Ethiopia and are amongst the oldest timber structures in the world, dating between the 6th and 10thcenturies AD. Debra Selam Mikael has an outstanding and extensive series of wall-paintings, dating to the 11th / 12th century, which are among the earliest and most important cycles of wall-paintings in Ethiopia, but wall-paintings are also present in a number of the rock-hewn churches. Monastery churches in Atsbi contain many treasures.
Ethiopia is a country with a long, rich, fascinating, and mysterious history known only to the locals or curious wanderers; but remain hidden from the outside world. Some of these sites include the Rock-Hewn churches of Eastern and Central Tigray.
More than 70 percent of Africa’s mountains are found in Ethiopia and that is why Ethiopia is called sometimes ‘The Roof of Africa’. Owning rich diverse artifacts and natural bliss that cannot be seen anywhere in the world: ‘Cradle of Mankind and Civilization’, ‘The Birth Place of Coffee’, ‘The First African Nation that Never Been Colonized.’
The country is also a place where more than 80 languages spoken, diverse nation and nationalities living in unity by diversity maintaining their culture and history. It is also the land of religion tolerance.
Ethiopia is one of the few places in the world where Rock – Hewn churches exist. These fabulous churches and their valuable paintings, architectural brilliance are not only consider to be a sacred home land of Ethiopia but also a prominent pilgrimage tourist destination.