Aksumite Architecture and Church Building in the Ethiopian Highlands1

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ECA 4 (2007), p. 49-75; doi: 10.2143 / ECA.4.0.2024666

Jan TROMP

uncovered. The Aksumite architecture has been disclosed by the Deutsche Aksum Expedition (D.A.E.) in 1906, for the greater part on the basis of the sculpted stelae, the ruins of a palace and one of the two extant built churches in this style. Only one of the six storied stelae is still upright. Locals attribute this stela to the very popular King Ezana, who accepted Christianity as the state’s religion in the fourth century. Under the ever growing influ- ence of the internet the stela is generally, and as an established fact, referred to as the Ezana stela. There seems to be no historical or archaeological proof for this attribution, so there is space for crit- icism. The ruins of the Ta’akha Maryam palace, excavated by the D.A.E., have been destroyed during the Italian occupation in the interbellum. How- ever, the Dongour complex, excavated in 1966 may fill the gap in reconstructing the Aksumite architecture. The church studied by the D.A.E. is the monastic church on the Debre Damo plateau. The problematic non-Aksumite main entrance of this building asks for an explanation. It has long been believed that the Debre Damo Church was Pl. 1. Stela 3 (© author) the only church that survived the troublesome sixteenth century. The second one, the Yemrehanna Krestos Church near Lalibela, unknown to the Any visitor of the northern highlands of Ethiopia D.A.E., will be discussed here as it corroborates will be overwhelmed by its cultural past and espe- their findings. cially by the sculpted giant stelae in Aksum, the Finally, reading articles and books in different ancient capital of the Aksumite Kingdom (begin- languages makes one realize that the terminology ning of the Christian era to ca 800), situated close used also differs greatly, both within the same lin- to the border with Eritrea (Fig. 1). The architec- guistic areas and between different ones. A com- tural features sculpted on these multi-storied ste- prehensive inventory of the characteristics of the lae, dating probably from the third and fourth century, are repeated in the rock-hewn churches of the Ethiopian highlands, almost a millennium later. As the knowledge about Aksum is not wide- 1 This article is based on my (unpublished) MA-thesis ‘Build- spread, this article will deal with the origins of the ings not built, rock and cave churches in Northern Aksumite Kingdom and its architecture, of which Ethiopia’, at the University of Amsterdam. For additional information, see www.jantromp.nl or contact the author there is so little left, or perhaps so much still through [email protected].

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Pl. 2. Stela 3, lower part (© author)

architecture is missing and in describing and com- situated, are the ruins of a moon temple from about menting on actual monuments in an art-historical 500 B.C. in Yeha, a town belonging to the pre- way, enhancing or upgrading the sometimes inad- Aksumite era. The very accurately cut stone blocks equate existing terminology is needed2. measure up to 3 m in length, fitting perfectly one upon the other and held together by an internal GENESIS OF THE AKSUMITE KINGDOM wooden construction. Seven steps lead to a plateau on which the building is constructed. These are The oldest witness to a sophisticated civilization in features that we shall meet again in Aksumite archi- the northern province of Tigre, in which Aksum is tecture. During this pre-Aksumite era Arab hunters and merchants emigrated from the east coast of the Red 2 Additional photographs accompanying this text with the Sea (Yemen) to settle permanently in Northern format JT-2005-001-001, may be downloaded from the Ethiopia3. They spoke a Semitic language called extensive Ethiopian database of the University of Toronto: http://ethiopia.deeds.utoronto.ca:8080/, username = stu- Ge’ez that was to become the language of the 4 dent, password = student, quick search = slide-number as Aksumite Kingdom . Aksum was presumably indicated in the footnotes of this article. I would like to founded at the beginning of our common era, the thank Prof. Michael Gervers for allowing access to the name occurring for the first time in an anonymous Ethiopian database. 3 Stappen 1996, 217. first- or second-century text, the Periplus maris ery- 4 Nowadays it still is the liturgical language of the priests, thraei, whereas the second-century Greek geogra- who during services read the Bible in Ge’ez. pher Claudius Ptolemeus writes about ‘Aksum

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Pl. 3. Stela 3, upper part (© author)

where the royal court is’5. Inscriptions in Arabic and by taking control of the Kingdom of Cush. The the presence of perfume burners in and around kingdom now comprised the province of Tigre, Yeha6, identical to those found on the east coast of Eritrea, the eastern part of Sudan and the Kingdom the Red Sea, point to the relationship between of Sheba (Yemen)7. Yemen (then Sheba) and the province of Tigre (then Of capital interest to Ethiopia has been King part of the Aksumite Kingdom). Legend has it, that Ezana, who ruled from ca 330 to ca 356, and is the Ark of the Covenant remained at Yeha for cen- mentioned in numerous inscriptions in different turies, before it was brought over to Aksum. languages as ‘King of Aksum and various other After the second century A.D. Aksum’s renown states’, one of which was Sheba8. At the end of his grew, judging from the larger number of inscrip- life Ezana raised Christianity to the state’s religion, tions and texts found in Southern Arabia mention- replacing the god Mahram with the god of the ing the Aksumites or Abyssinians. One Arabian text Christians9. As a consequence, Ethiopia must have speaks of a treaty between the King of Sheba and Gadarat, King of Aksum. The Aksumites had a large commercial fleet in the port of Adoulis, located on the Red Sea coast, for transporting aro- 5 Anfray 1990, 65-66; Phillipson 1998, 25. matic substances and flavours. In the third century 6 Anfray 1990, 22. 7 Munro-Hay/Phillipson 1989, 7; di Salvo 1999, Ch. 1; a King Aphilas added to his name the title of ‘King Munro-Hay/Phillipson 1989, 7. of Sheba, of the Himyarites and of Raydan’. The 8 Anfray 1990, 74. fourth-century King Ezana extended the territory 9 Gerster 1968, 25.

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Pl. 4. Fallen Stela 1 (© author)

been a Christian empire before the Roman Emperor sionaries, referred to later as the ‘Nine Saints’ or Theodosius made the same decision at the end of simply the ‘Nine’, arrived via Egypt in Ethiopia and the fourth century. According to the Roman author zealously started christianising the population. Rufinus, Ezana was christened by the Syrian scholar Christianity was well implanted by the ‘Nine’ for, Frumentius10. There is convincing numismatic when the countries surrounding Ethiopia embraced proof that on the Ezana coins from after 341, the Islam after the seventh century, Christianity not crescent-and-disk symbol disappeared in favour of only survived in the highlands but also developed the sign of the Christian cross11. in a unique way. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 resulted in a In the sixth century the relationship with Sheba schism dividing Chalcedonians and Anti-Chalcedo- must have been problematic as King Kaleb, pro- nians, in particular in Egypt and Syria. Naturally pelled by the Byzantine Emperor Justin I, occupied this also had an impact on the Church of Ethiopia, Sana’a, appointed a viceroy and had a great cathe- whose abuna was appointed by the Coptic patri- dral built there12. After the seventh century fol- arch. After the council, nine threatened Syrian mis- lowed a rapid decline, when trade was taken over, first by the Sassanids, then by the Arab countries, pushing the Aksumite borders back to the west coast of the Red Sea. Little is known about what 10 Phillipson 1998, 113. 11 Munro-Hay 1991, Ch. 4-6, or: http://users.vnet.net/ happened between the eighth and the twelfth cen- alight/aksum/mhak2.html#c4-6. tury, when the dynasty of the Zagwe kings came 12 Phillipson 1998, 112, 116, 124. into power.

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Pl. 5. Ruins of the Dongour complex (© author)

AKSUMITE ARCHITECTURE recognized from then on as ranking among the most important ancient sites of the world. The results, Aksum as an archaeological site is mentioned for the with hundreds of drawings and photographs, were first time by Francesco Alvarès, priest and chronicler published in four bulky volumes in 1913. of the Portuguese embassy in Ethiopia in the early sixteenth century13. He writes about the sculpted ste- THE AKSUMITE STELAE lae, some of which had fallen. He also notices twelve thrones of stone, near the entrance of the precinct of In Aksum there are several necropoleis, of which the Mary of Tsion, two hypogee houses and the tombs most important one, the Northern Stelae Field, of King Kaleb and his son Gebre Masqal. Alvarès’ counts six multi-storied monolithic giant stelae writings are of great importance because they date from before the large-scale destruction of Christian buildings from 1541 onwards14 and because they 13 Anfray 1990, 87-88; Phillipson 1998, 28. aroused the curiosity of westerners. The first mission 14 The Muslim leader Ahmed-ibn-Ibrahim from Harar, nick- of great importance took place in 1906, when the named Grañ (= the left-handed), started a jihad in 1541 D.A.E., led by Enno Littmann, Daniel Krencker and against the Christian highlanders, a disaster in the history of Theodor von Lüpke, established itself in Aksum. On the country. He destroyed the greater part of Christian buildings, artifacts and manuscripts in Northern Ethiopia. With 7 January, the expedition started their excavations the help of Christobald da Gama (son of Vasco), Grañ was and other historical research. This date marks the eventually killed near Lake Tana, but only after Christobald beginning of archaeological research in Aksum, was left-handedly decapitated (Phillipson 1998, 26-27).

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amidst tens of smaller ones. The D.A.E. numbered Its ten storeys, of which the first one has a (false) the stelae, starting with the six giant ones decorated door and lock and the second one consists of a row with architectural motifs giving them the appear- of square windows, contrasting with the subsequent ance of modest skyscrapers. Stelae 1, 2 and 3 are the rows of rectangular ones, really make it look like a most interesting ones for our purpose, as they have high flat building. the finest decorations with architectural features and The English words floor and storey are confusing. are originally located close to each other on the Dictionaries indicate that the first floor is the ground Northern Stelae Field. Stela 2 was brought to Rome floor in American English, but in UK English it is by Benito Mussolini in 1937 and re-erected near the the floor above the ground floor, like the word étage Circus Maximus. It only returned in February 2006 in French and Dutch. This may explain why Ruth after decennia of negotiations and is now stored Plant, in her admirable book on architecture in the somewhere near the airport of Aksum, waiting to province of Tigre, writes that Stela 3 has eight be re-re-erected as soon as the necessary funds are storeys17. First of all she considers the false door and available. Stela 1 has broken into at least five pieces, the first row of windows together as the entrance lying close to Stela 3, which is the only one of the hallway. Consequently her first floor is situated giant stelae still upright. above the entrance hallway, above the first row of Near the Northern Stelae Field the D.A.E. also windows, where others may consider this to be the discovered and excavated impressive tombs, among third floor or the third storey and count ten storeys which were those of King Kaleb and his son Gebre in total, in the way that David W. Phillipson did. Maskal. This gives plausibility to the idea that the His publication from 1997 is based fully on the giant stelae are funeral monuments for kings. A data of the D.A.E. and therefore merits to be con- third category is the palaces attributed to Aksumite tinued here. kings, of which the D.A.E. excavated the Ta’akha Plant seems not to have observed the drawings Maryam complex. A second complex, the Dongour and photographs of the D.A.E. accurately, though palace, was excavated in the 1960s by the Ethiopian she includes the work in her bibliography. One even Institute of Archaeology under the direction of doubts whether she has actually observed the stelae Francis Anfray. with her own eyes when she writes that Stela 3 ‘is Stela 3 will be described first, as it is the only indented on three sides’, while it is only indented in giant stela still in its upright position, undamaged the front. She also makes a confusing remark by writ- and in its full glory (Pls 1-3)15. Seven steps lead to ing that ‘(…) such an indentation (…) is called a a platform from where the granite stela rises to a resalte (…)’ 18. Not the indentation but the two pro- height of 21 m; the subterranean section adds jections on both sides of it are called ressaults. Any- 3 meters to its total length of 24 m. The rectangu- way it is now understandable why Plant, in describ- lar ground plan measures 2.65 ≈ 1.18 m16 and it ing the other stelae, also ‘misses’ a storey or two. shows that only the front side is indented, meaning As Aksumite buildings presumably had not more that it has two corner ressaults. Architectural fea- than two storeys19, we will take a closer look at the tures are sculpted on three sides, the back being flat. first two and derive the characteristic architectural features from them (Pl. 2)20. The massive seamless door has an impressive lock, suggesting that only this inner part opens on entering. The door has an 15 JT-2005-003-015. inner and an outer frame of which the latter con- 16 Measures taken from Phillipson 1997, 26. tains protruding cubical blocks in the four corners, 17 Plant 1985, 18. representing transom ends. The lintel above is also 18 Plant 1985, 17. placed between two such cubical blocks, generally 19 Phillipson 1998, 88. 20 JT-2005-003-017. called monkey heads. It must be clear that this whole 21 Stumpel, 1996. In his article ‘The vatican tazza and other construction in real architecture would be made of petrifications:…’ Jeroen Stumpel applies the term petrifica- wood. Petrification is the word for rendering in tion on any ritualised object, executed in a more durable stone parts of a building that would normally be material, e.g. a silk rose, exposed on a church altar, is a pet- 21 rified rose. Extending the semantic field of a word by executed in wood . neglecting its etymology, does not help to clarify meaning The horizontal lines in the walls represent petri- by the use of Greco-Latin expressions. fied wooden beams with a rectangular cross section.

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On the beams are resting rounded transoms, of position in relation to Stela 3 and the reconstruc- which only the slightly protruding ends are visible, tion drawing clearly shows all the details (Fig. 2)28. rounded here but spherical in real architecture. Stela 1 is situated to the left of Stela 3. Before it These rounded ends are also called monkey heads. collapsed, it must have been the largest monolith in Anticipating what will be discussed later in real the world with its length of 33 m and a ground plan architecture, a distinction is proposed here between of 3.84 ≈ 2.35 m. Its 13 storeys can easily be deter- monkey heads and cubic heads for three different rea- mined when walking along the colossus that has sons. First, the distinction accounts for the morpho- fallen forward to the south, broken into at least five logical difference between the two; secondly, mon- pieces29. In situ these pieces are clearly distinguish- key heads occur only in wall structures, cubic heads able (Pl. 4)30 and it is therefore rather puzzling why only in window and door frames, so the distinction Plant only counts four, the more so as the D.A.E. facilitates the discussion/description of buildings; mentions ‘many pieces of which six (italics added) and finally, there are many buildings where cubic are important for reconstruction drawings, because heads occur without monkey heads. they fit end to end’31. The frames in the first row of windows, repre- Once again there are significant differences from senting the second storey, are square with cruciform Stelae 2 and 3, of which the most important are the bars. Those on the corners, in the ressaults, have a indentations on four sides. This means that there are full frame, whereas the two in the middle are cou- corner ressaults on the four faces, making the pled, sharing a post and two cubic heads. The win- ground plan very similar to that of the central build- dows of the other rows are rectangular with T-shape ings of two excavated palaces (see below), though on bars. Each row of windows is separated from the a smaller scale. The first storey shows the back door following by two layers of stone with a beam and without a lock, though traces demonstrate that it monkey heads in between. The higher their posi- must have been there once. On the front door the tion is, the narrower the windows are, because of lock is still present, as can be seen when gliding the tapering off of the stela. On the top floor, the backwards under part one. Above the door four lack of space becomes so dramatic that the coupled square windows and three on the side walls contain rectangular windows in the middle are replaced by the same cruciform bars as with Stelae 2 and 3, but a single square one (Pl. 3)22. The stela is crowned they differ from them, in that they are not con- with a fan form apex with five peg holes (the metal nected. On the contrary, there is enough space in pegs are still in the holes), having served to fix a between the windows for an extra monkey head to metal plaque23. These peg holes occur in the apexes appear between two cubic heads (Fig. 3)32. of the other giant stelae too. As the pre-Christian In the subsequent storeys there are seven rectan- kings of Aksum referred to themselves as ‘sons of gular windows in each row, tripled in the middle, the invincible war-god Mahram’24, the metal coupled in the two ressaults. On the sidewalls this plaques, of which none has survived, are connected with this Nubian god, the more so as the otherwise uncarved backside of the stela contains a small carv- 22 JT-2005-003-016. 25 ing at the head, interpreted as a shield . 23 Phillipson 1997, 15. As for Stela 2, the hole waiting for this stela to 24 Munro-Hay/Phillipson 1989, 9. be re-erected, which was prepared on the right 25 Moreover Stela 4 had two lances carved on the front side, 26 as shown by the new reconstruction by Phillipson (1997, spot long before its return , should be regarded 32, 185). as an urge for the Italian authorities to take their 26 JT-2005-003-010. responsibility. Stela 2 is slightly longer than Stela 27 Plant 1985, 17, 215. 3 and differs from it on essential points. It was 28 Krencker 1913, Taf. V-VI; Phillipson 1997, 33-34. For practical reasons the scans are not made from the heavy and broken into five pieces already before its emigra- precious D.A.E. volume. tion in 1937, has eleven storeys, is sculpted on all 29 That we may indeed speak of a colossus may be concluded four sides, indented on the back and in the front from its weight only. Stelae 2 and 3 weigh a little over 150 and consequently has two (false) doors27. The rows tonnes, Stela 1 weighs 520 tonnes. It counts 660 monkey heads + 764 cubic heads = 1424 in total. of windows are separated by three layers of stone 30 JT-2005-003-013. and two layers of beams with monkey heads. The 31 Phillipson 1997, 37. photograph of the D.A.E. in Phillipson shows its 32 Krencker 1913, Taf. VIII-X; Phillipson 1997, 40, Fig. 52.

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number is reduced to four, a couple in the inden- The giant stelae are sometimes referred to as tation, and a single one in the ressaults. The lack of obelisks. Although they may have been inspired by space in the upper three storeys of the tapering stela the Egyptian monoliths, both artefacts have a dis- is solved by reducing the tripled windows in the tinct morphology and function, thus the Aksum- front to couples and the couples in the ressaults and ite monuments are entitled to a name of their own. the sidewalls to single ones. Some windows in these The Ethiopian highlanders are particularly proud upper storeys are decorated with ornaments consist- of this unique token of their culture, as they are ing of small arches resting on mini-pilasters with proud of the unique development of their Christ- stepped capitals and bases. Although these orna- ian religion. This pride is also expressed by nam- ments must have been almost invisible from the ing Stela 3 after King Ezana, the converted king ground when the stela was still upright, they have who is the link between the ancient Aksumite a certain importance because they appear again in civilisation and their own34. However, as men- later church decoration (Fig. 4)33. tioned above, there is no historical or archaeological proof that this stela was indeed erected in his memory. 33 Krencker 1913, 26, Abb. 47; Phillipson 1997, 39, Fig. 51. The giant stelae date from the third and fourth 34 In popular publications, travel guides and on the internet, century. The D.A.E. numbered the stelae not at Stela 3 is generally called the Ezana Stela. random, there is a clear progress in weight, size,

Fig. 5. Weight and size of the stelae

Pl. 6. Main entrance of the Dongour complex (© author)

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storeys and carving of the six multi-storied stelae, territory of the kingdom had never been vaster. The as shown in Fig. 535. fact itself, that there are hardly any archaeological Stela 3 is indented in the front only, Stela 2 in findings concerning other fourth-century kings, front and back and Stela 1 on all four sides. If this may be indicative for Ezana’s greatness. progress in the data is the expression of a compe- The main reason why the Ethiopians assigned tition among successive kings, like obelisks were in Stela 3 to King Ezana at some point of their his- Egypt, Stela 1 must be the last stela erected in tory may have been that this is the only one still memory of the greatest king of the fourth century. erected. Should Stela 1 have held its upright posi- Now who was the greatest? tion, they might have chosen differently. A reason Although little is known of the Aksumite kings why Stela 3 was not erected in his memory may be in general, we know relatively much about King found on its backside, where a warshield-like carv- Ezana, thanks to numismatic findings, foreign texts ing is situated in the apex, probably as a courtesy and numerous inscriptions. Amongst these are two to ‘the invincible war god Mahram’. This would be trilingual, higher than man-size, stone slabs extant illogic on behalf of a king who had the crescent- in Aksum36, enumerating his heroic exploits. A and-disc symbol on coins replaced by the Christ- third one, which is lost but had a similar inscrip- ian cross and who refers to himself in inscriptions tion, is described by Cosmas Indicopleustes in the as follows: early sixth century, though he does not explicitly mention the king’s name37. Ezana was King of 35 Phillipson 1998, 90. Cush, after he conquered Meroe in the Sudanese 36 JT-2005-003-009/-023. 38 Nile Valley , King of Sheba, and King of Aksum, 37 Phillipson 1998, 53-54. where he may have had the first cathedral built. The 38 Phillipson 1998, 51.

Pl. 7. Monastery of Debre Damo (© author)

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In the faith of God and the power of the Father, words, the morphological difference between Son and Holy Spirit who saved me for the kingdom square and rectangular window frames may indi- by the faith of his Son Jesus Christ, who has helped cate the borderline between the temporary and the me and will always help me, I, Ezana, King of the eternal. Aksumites and Himyarites, Raeidan, the Ethiopi- ans, the Sabaeans …39. PALACES

There is no proof which stela, if any, was erected in Not only the stelae but also the ruins of former memory of King Ezana, but if one of them should palaces play an important role in the definition of be elected, the most important nominee would be the Aksumite architecture. The most significant was Stela 1, the greatest stela for the king who regarded the complex of Ta’akha Maryam excavated by the himself as the greatest, ending the polytheist era. D.A.E. It was indeed, because Mussolini thought it Another question is why the Aksumites chose advisable to construct a highway on this location, the mimesis of a flat building to memorize their and bulldozed the whole complex which was con- kings, a form of architecture they were unable to sequently completely lost. Thanks to Daniël create in the real. And why does the second storey Krencker, the architect participating in the D.A.E. of the six multi-storied stelae have square shaped who based his impressive reconstruction drawing of window frames and the subsequent storeys vertical the main building of an Aksumite palace upon these rectangular ones? The tapering off of the stelae by excavations41, we can still compare the Ta’akha itself is no reason for choosing either of the two Maryam architecture with that sculpted on the shapes. The palaces the pre-Christian kings lived in Aksumite stelae and notice the similarities and dif- must have been the most obvious token of their ferences. The ressaults have been transformed into god-like status as ‘sons of the invincible god four corner towers, the windows and walls abound Mahram’. The dead body of twelfth-century King with cubic and monkey heads; the ground plan, Yemrehanna Krestos, elevated to the status of a measuring 24 ≈ 24 m, differs from that of the ste- saint, was moved from his temporary dwelling to lae in so far as that the palace plan is square, his last eternal residence with a ground plan and whereas that of the stelae rectangular (Fig. 6)42. corner towers similar to Aksumite palaces (see A further feature of the Aksumite palace is, that below). Six centuries earlier, King Kaleb and his son the high stepped plinth on which the whole com- Gebre Maskal had been moved to their twin tombs plex is elevated, is simply the continuation of the with a superstructure showing a ground plan wor- foundations of the building above ground level. The thy of a royal palace crowning their eternal resting height of the plinth in the reconstruction drawing place40. So the palace-like ground plan and eleva- seems to be exaggerated. One has to climb fifteen tions of the funeral stelae may indeed be consid- steps before arriving at the landing in front of the ered as the most dignifying architectural shape for main entrance. The door of Stela 3 can be reached a divine king. by mounting seven steps only, as can the main Aksumite palaces were presumably two-storied entrance of the Dongour palace. Moreover, it may buildings, so the first two storeys of the stelae may be doubted if the wooden beams in the lower parts refer to the physical environment the kings lived of the walls would be strong enough to support the in. After their death, they moved to the subsequent enormous weight of the storeys above, so we may higher positioned storeys symbolizing the meta- fully agree with Phillipson’s remark that Aksumite physical world of their godfather Mahram, in other architecture did not go beyond two storeys43. If so, the anachronistic crenels crowning the defensive towers seem to be unlikely and in contradiction 39 Phillipson 1998, 113. with the fact that ‘Aksum and, so far as we can tell, 40 Fine drawings and pictures in: Krencker 1913, 127-134, other agglomerations seem never to have been cir- Taf. XIX-XXI. cumscribed by defensive walls. Indeed the location 41 Krencker 1913, 113, Abb. 251. of the sites (…) and the dispersed nature of the set- 42 Krencker 1913, 107, Abb. 245; Phillipson 1997, 93, Fig. 124. tlement that is suggested archaeologically, combine 43 Phillipson 1998, 88. to indicate that defence was not an important con- 44 Phillipson 1998, 54. sideration’44.

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The most complete monument of Aksumite King Ezana, the cross claiming its place in ever- architecture today, the Dongour complex, is situ- increasing frequency on monuments, earthenware ated southwest of Aksum, within easy reach on foot and coins and in increasingly varying shapes. Oth- from the centre of the town. It was excavated in ers than the two palaces of Ta’akha Maryam and 1966 by a mission of the Ethiopian Archaeological Dongour have not been disclosed thus far. After the Institute, directed by Francis Anfray. The ruins christianisation during the fifth century, churches occupy an area of 57 ≈ 56.5 m (Pl. 5)45. The main were built on basilica-like ground plans, of which building with corner ressaults on all four sides, only one has allegedly survived the Muslim invasion probably indicating corner towers, has entrances on of the sixteenth century, the monastery church on three sides. The main entrance must have been the the amba (plateau) of Debre Damo, which was one situated east, as the landing is accessible by included in the D.A.E. research and played a sig- seven steps on three sides (Pl. 6)46, the other two nificant role in their reconstruction of the elevations on two sides only. The reconstruction drawing of in Aksumite architecture. Baudouin, rendering the main building perhaps more conform reality than the D.A.E. drawing, THE DEBRE DAMO CHURCH makes it clear that the outer walls are also composed of receding and advancing parts, including inden- Legend has it that one of the ‘Nine Saints’, Za tations, thus strengthening the overall construction Mikael, the later Abuna Aregawi, was the first of the whole complex (Fig. 7)47. human being to reach the amba of Debre Damo in For our purpose it is not significant to continue the sixth century. He intended to found a monastery describing other Aksumite monuments. In the on top of this table mountain, but was desperate fourth century the tomb culture of erecting huge about the possibility to get there. On the point of stelae in honour of the war god Mahrem and in giving up his project, he was attacked by a terrifying memory of late kings ended with the conversion of serpent, but instead of strangling him the monster hoisted him up the plateau. God clearly had a hand in it. In memory of this miracle, visitors today (males only) are obliged to climb the vertical rock face at the same spot as Za Mikael did, not helped by a snake or a divine hand this time, but by that of a priest, hoisting the visitor up, attached on a goatskin

45 JT-2005-003-007. 46 JT-2005-003-003. 47 Anfray 1990, 103.

Pl. 8. Debre Damo bell-tower (© author) Pl. 9. Xylification of a window frame (© author)

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Pl. 10. Church of the Debre Damo Monastery (© author)

rope. The church is officially named after its founder, name of the church, because ‘Hallelujah’ is what Enda Abuna Aregawi, but it is widely known as the Za Mikael called out four times, to the four winds, Debre Damo Church, or more popularly as the when overlooking the breathtaking scenery. Some Hallelujah Church. The founding was financed by hundred monks live here in separate houses of one King Gabra Maskal in the sixth century48. or two storeys (Pl. 7)49. The oldest parts of the pres- Once freed from the rope, a short climb along a ent church appear to date from the tenth or ridge in the rock face brings the pilgrim on top of eleventh century50, though many changes and the plateau, southeast of the church that is hiding restorations have been effectuated ever since. behind the olive trees and the precinct wall. From The bell tower, south-west of the church, has this position one understands clearly the popular been restored in what could be called a neo-Aksum- ite style, emphasizing two layers of beams and monkey heads protected by a double row of stone tiles in a concrete wall (Pl. 8)51. The distance between 48 Lepage/Mercier 2005, 38-45; Matthews/Mordini 1959, 28-29. these layers is far to great, and that between the 49 JT-2005-004-017/-018 /-019. monkey heads too small. The corner ressaults are 50 Matthews/Mordini 1959, 53. Indian gold coins from the replaced by mere buttresses. A curious detail is the first to third century, Arabic gold coins from the seventh to semi-circular arches with three beads spared in the tenth century and fragments of Coptic fabrics from the sixth to the eighth century were found here. wooden lintels of the non-Aksumite windows on 52 51 JT-2005-004-004. three sides of the tower (Pl. 9) . These beads may 52 JT-2005-004-024. be interpreted as reminiscent of an arch executed in

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Pl. 11. Southwest view of the Debre Damo Church (© author)

stone with a keystone in the middle and two imposts also have grown organically from ancient Aksumite on the sides. If this is correct, we have here an exam- architecture (Fig. 8)54. ple of what may be called xylification, the inverse The ground plan measures 20 ≈ 9 m and looks process of petrification in the architectural details of allegedly basilical, with an entrance hall preceding the Aksumite stelae. Both processes occur in win- the narthex, a nave separated from the side aisles dows and doors of rock-hewn churches as well. by two rows of columns and a makdas (altar room) From the bell tower one has a magnificent view flanked by two rectangular rooms different in size, of the church with its corrugated iron protection of which the northern one seems disproportionate shield (Pl. 10)53. It clearly shows the indented walls, (Fig. 9)55. It is generally accepted that the entrance the alternating layers of stone and wooden beams hall is a later addition to the original plan. There with monkey heads of the elevations and the two seems to be some doubt in this respect as to storeys indicated by a cantilevering double row of the room north of the makdas56, but first of all it tiles protecting the underlying entablature of the ground floor against the waters, which is also the function of the modern roofing. This roof, however, 53 JT-2005-004-006. offers a completely false impression of the church 54 Anfray 1990, 169; Krencker 1913, 171, Abb. 344. as a whole, making it look like a pseudo-basilica. 55 Buxton 1947, 7, Fig. 4; Krencker 1913, 172, Abb. 345-346. 56 Many authors pretend the ground plan of Ethiopian Matthews/Mordini 1959, 56. This room is the mausoleum of King Lebna Dengel, who died in the war against Grañ churches to be derived from the Roman basilica. in 1540. Debre Damo offered asylum to the royal family, This need not to be true, as these ground plans may when in 1541 Christobald da Gama came to Debre Damo

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corrupts the symmetry of the building, secondly it Separate spaces are added for the narthex, the mak- causes a recess on the northeast corner, which is das and the two flanking sacristies, closed by walls not compliant with the Aksumite characteristic and/or curtains. There is no apse. The Debre Damo (and not only the Aksumite) of building ressaults Church is an exception in so far as that the main on the corners, as we have seen in the stelae and space, of which the width even exceeds its length, in the ruins of the palaces. is divided by six instead of four columns. The same argument is valid for the entrance hall, The most striking feature on the outside of the causing the north and south wall to end in recesses, church is the alternation of dry stone layers and closed on the corners by protruding ‘buttresses’, like massive wooden beams resting the monkey heads. in the bell tower, that comprise only the thickness The shades of colour in the stones combined with of the west wall. The ground plan is not very accu- the dark wooden stripes of the beams is of a rare rate in this respect, but in combination with the beauty and most expressive in the skimming sun- D.A.E. reconstruction drawing, it is evident that, if light (Pl. 11)58. We may, however, get a corrupted we would do away with the entrance hall and the image of what the original building looked like, tak- protruding part of the northeast corner, this would ing into account that in Aksumite architecture the result into a perfect ground plan of an ancient walls were plastered and whitewashed as can still be Aksumite building with corner ressaults on all four seen on the inside and on remaining built parts of sides. other churches. In the northern part of the narthex a stairway Although the building stands on a two-stepped leads to the upper galleries. The nave is accessible plinth, this is not, as explained before, the contin- via the entrance hall and the narthex but also uation of the foundations above ground level, as the directly on the outside via the entrances in the church stands on a solid rock floor rising slightly to north and south wall, of which the latter has lost the east, which makes the plinth fading away grad- the traditional function that south entrances in ually. The ashlars on the corners of the west wall, other churches in Ethiopia have; they are reserved all of irregular size and shape, fit together with exclusively for women. admirable accuracy, violated by later mortar restora- One argument against the general opinion that tions. ground plans of this type of Ethiopian churches are The main entrance does not have, as might be based on that of the Roman basilica is the defini- expected, an Aksumite door with cubic heads59. It tion of such a plan: ‘(…) basilica, made of one cov- has two huge monolithic posts with cushion bases ered, rectangular hall, subdivided lengthwise into and ditto capitals, integrated into the wall and cut aisles by columns or piers arranged in rows along from the same material as the cornerstones. The many bays, starting from the narthex at the entrance is bisected by a strange looking decorated entrance hall all the way to the apse at the end’57. column slightly out of plumb. Especially its capital The ground plans of the churches visited person- may be considered of a unique shape, too fragile to ally, do not show ‘one rectangular hall’ but a square carry a heavy weight. The way it is fixed to the lin- one, divided by four columns into nine square com- tel makes it look like a hanging element rather than partments, so there is no ‘lengthwise’ subdivision. a supporting one (Pl. 12)60. The base corresponds more or less to a bracket capital like those inside the narthex. Phillipson describes the western entrance to end the siege, after which the monastery served as an as ‘a portico, aligned with the outer wall, compris- 61 ammunition store. ing three monolithic pillars’ . Close examination 57 Di Salvo 1999, 59. in situ revealed that the central pillar is not a mono- 58 JT-2005-004-041; Matthews/Mordini 1959, 4. Matthews lith but an assemblage of five different parts, so the strengthened the walls with reinforced concrete beams encircling the building invisibly within the thickness of the following re-arrangement seems to provide a solu- walls. tion to the problematic present situation. The 59 This entrance is of course not the original one, because the assembled column consists of a capital, abacus, outer wall of the narthex is now situated inside the later shaft, another abacus and a base. Base and sill are added entrance hall. 60 JT-2005-004-014. cut from one piece of rock. Projecting the photo- 61 Phillipson 1998, 131. graph upside down, followed by the turning of the 62 JT-2005-004-015. shaft another 180° yielded a quite satisfying result62.

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The lateral entrances giving access to the keddest65 are situated in the recesses of the north and south wall, with Aksumite frames closed by wooden doors. They are essentially identical, although the south door is somewhat more robust in execution. The resemblance with the doors on the Aksumite stelae is striking, even in its details. Note the tiny profile on the lintel of the inner frame, the same as the one on the stelae doors (Pl. 14)66. The large wooden door itself, impressive by its width even though it is partly hidden behind the inner frame, is monoxylic as suggested by the seamless representation on the stelae. Here we are confronted with the xylification of a pet- rified example representing the original door of a fourth century building or even earlier. A door like this makes one realize how dramatically the Ethiopian scenery has changed. Trees of a convenient size can be found nowhere in the eroded highlands of today. There is a second entrance to the left of the pre- vious one, giving access to the narthex. One won- ders why this door is here. No other churches have doors on this location. Moreover it penetrates the wall of a ressault, unheard of in the Aksumite tra- dition, as far as we know. Here the monkey heads Pl. 12. Main entrance of the Debre Damo Church and the inner frame are missing. Two xylified (© author) arches, each sculpted from one block of wood like the one in the bell tower, are placed on the lintel, not as integral parts of the frame, but as recycled Now the capital has a familiar look and the base additions, probably put there to bring in some light reminds us of wooden ones, seen in the province after the entrance hall was added, preventing a good of Tigre63. Capital and base have presumably been deal of the daylight to enter via the former main interchanged, possibly centuries ago. Was this entrance (Pl. 14)67. done by mistake, or because of difficulties in The aforementioned entablature runs around the mounting the base and sill combination on top of whole building, though in a less pronounced way. the shaft. Both storeys are indented. The upper windows are Above the entrance the entablature, made of square and nicely decorated, the lower ones are rec- extra strong beams with monkey heads, a stucco tangular and sometimes severely crumpled. Yet the blank frieze and a stringcourse separates the two upper windows could be labelled a-Aksumite, in so storeys. The top floor is only slightly indented far as they do not join the beams above, as do the above the entrance, but this indentation, accentu- lower windows, connecting four layers of beams and ated by yellow ashlars, is not continued on the thus increasing the wall strength (Pl. 15)68. ground floor, as in the Aksumite palace where the entrance is situated in the indented part of the wall. It confirms all the more that this part of the 63 JT-2005-007-064; JT-2005-007-096. 64 JT-2005-004-044. church is a younger addition. The tripartite upper 65 The three main parts of the church are: the kene mahlet = wall has a wooden Aksumite window in each part, chant of praise = narthex; the keddest = saint = the main crowned by another cantilevering stringcourse body; the makdas = the sanctuary where the tabot = altar- bereft of its function by the corrugated iron roof. stone, is. The tabot, representing the Ark of the Covenant, is made in stone or in wood. Horizontal and vertical elements are harmoniously 66 JT-2005-004-040. integrated into the overall composition of this west 67 JT-2005-004-040. facade (Pl. 13)64. 68 JT-2005-004-042.

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Pl. 13. West facade of the Debre Damo Church (© author)

The entrance hall in front of the narthex has an tion of the entrance hall. The advantage of the pres- impressive coffered ceiling, in which the diagonal ent situation is, that we get a fairly good impression bridging joists form diamonds with a square inside, of what the church originally looked like on the covered by planks (Pl. 16)69. A similar construc- outside, because this part is not infected by weather tion also covers the makdas in order to reduce the conditions. The whitewashed stucco is still partly opening in the ceiling, so that a modest dome present and the smoothly shining dark wood looks could be placed on top70. The diamond shaped almost like new. The two coupled Aksumite doors, covering of the ceiling was also used in Aksumite sharing the middle post and its two cubic heads, are palaces. The varied petrification of it, is seen in most impressive, situated between the two corner many rock-hewn churches. ressaults and connecting up to six layers of beams The entrance to the narthex is situated in the (Pl. 17)71. In the wall, to the left and right of the wall that used to be the outer wall before the addi- doors, there seem to be cubic heads, however, as we will see, they are not. Otherwise, the suggested definition of cubic heads occurring only in window 69 JT-2005-004-009; electric wiring and a luster hindering the view on the ceiling, are removed from the picture. There and door frames, would no longer be valid. need not be any objection against manipulated images, as The explosion drawing of the Debre Damo wall long as this is explicitly stated. construction shows how the wooden parts of the 70 I did not have access to the makdas myself. Matthews and building are integrated in the stone layers (Fig. 10)72. Mordini made a detailed report of their restoration activi- ties. Matthews/Mordini 1959, 8-22. The important function of the square and rounded 71 JT-2005-004-008. transoms, notched to make them fit onto the 72 Phillipson 1998, 94. slightly receding beams and protruding like cubic

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Pl. 14. South wall of the Debre Damo Church (© author)

and monkey heads, is to join the outer and inner Ezana garden in Aksum, consisting of a five-stepped walls mutually and thus to strengthen the whole capital, a chamfered shaft and a (composite) cushion construction. The space between the walls is filled base74. The brackets in the narthex each support one with a rubble and mortar mixture. The corners of the heavy wooden beams of the coffered ceiling (mostly of ressaults) are fortified by ashlars in the with carved panels, one of the glories of the Debre stone parts and by huge wooden blocks that unite Damo Church. This compartmentalized olive wooden the beam ends. The morphology of these blocks is ceiling is filled with square panels of 23 cm, carved in such that between two layers of stone they resem- bas-relief and showing floral and animal scenes and ble cubic heads, like we saw them flanking the some geometrical patterns. God’s entire creation seems entrance to the narthex. We now know they are not to be represented as on a Picardian cathedral: lions, cubic heads and that is why the new term of corner antelopes, stags, rhinos, zebus, griffins, elephants, buf- heads is proposed here. faloes, snakes, dragons, trees, all kinds of birds, etc. The ceiling in the narthex is supported by two Former visitors mention the difficulty of mak- wooden columns and a stone one, crowned with a ing photographs of the ceiling owing to the dim composite capital, i.e. a bracket capital on top of a light, so they published drawings instead75. Because two-stepped capital, two Aksumite features at the same time. A third feature is seen in the square shaft with chamfered edges73. As only very few capitals and 73 JT-2005-004-021. columns are found on archaeological sites, it is 74 JT-2005-003-002. assumed that these were for the greater part executed 75 There are very fine line drawings in Matthews/Mordini in wood. A rare stone example is exhibited in the 1959, 21 and in Gerster et al. 1968.

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of a misunderstanding with the guardian monk, only a first picture is available of rather poor qual- ity76. With the help of digital manipulation of this picture (Pl. 18)77 and Matthew’s article, we can identify the animal scenes as follows: – a goat looking back at an animal being attacked by another animal; – two antelopes face to face on their hind legs and a flower motif; – a dromedary in front of a palm tree; – a stag with hoof in the mouth, its young and a bird; – a dragon swallowing an animal or a fish; – a zebu and a meandering tendril; – a rampant lion in front of a palm tree and the Pl. 16. Ceiling of the entrance hall (© author) head of another lion; – a rhino, a dog and a tree; – a winged griffin and a snake between palmettos.

Various authors estimate the ceiling to be dating from the seventh or eighth century, the oldest part of the whole Debre Damo complex. In the eighth

Pl. 17. Entrance doors to the Debre Damo narthex (© author)

Pl. 15. Upper window in the south wall (© author)

76 My stay inside the church lasted only fifteen minutes, because the monk interpreted the lcd-screen of the camera as the use of video, which is forbidden. The D.A.E. had to clear off after two hours (Matthews/Mordini 1959, 1). 77 JT-2005-004-023. Pl. 18. Coffered ceiling in the narthex (© author)

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century the Aksumite Kingdom underwent a rapid due to their position in the cave, they corroborate decline, so the panels may well originate from a the assumption made by the D.A.E. that the palaces palace or dwelling no longer inhabited. too had four towers (Pl. 19)80. A church with the All the monuments mentioned before were exca- morphological features of a royal palace may be less vated or visited by the members of the D.A.E. and surprising, taking into consideration that the patron form the basis of their reconstruction drawings. may have been a king of the Zagwé dynasty. Sixty years later Buxton and Matthews made their The Yemrehanna Krestos Church was allegedly drawings, amongst others of a room at the Ta’akha built by the eponymous grandfather of King Lali- Maryam. We can now easily recognize various bela in the twelfth century. On the east side of the Aksumite architectural elements, brought together church a neo-Aksumite gate gives access to his in this drawing (Fig. 11), like the coupled window colourful grave. The double entrance shows in prin- frames with T-form infillings on the left and with ciple two of the semi-circular windows with three arches resting on mini-pilasters with stepped capi- beads spared in the lintels, but in this case they are tals and bases on the right, borrowed from Stela 1, less abstractly executed than in the Debre Damo the bracket capital and coffered ceiling from the bell tower and door. Here we can clearly distinct Debre Damo narthex and a continuing frieze of pilasters, crowned by a stepped capital, functioning connected window frames, visible on the giant ste- as impost blocs for the construction of the arch lae and also extant in the keddest of the Debre with a central keystone in the non-xylified version Damo Church that could not be visited. (Pl. 20)81. Actually the same features are shown in Monkey heads can occur in the outer and inner the ornaments of the juxtaposed lower window in walls of the same building as in the Debre Damo the northeast tower, where mini-pilasters with narthex, in the outer wall only as in this drawing of stepped bases and capitals support horseshoe arches the Ta’akha Maryam, or not at all as in a church (Pl. 21)82. This motif also occurs in one of the unknown by the D.A.E.: the Yemrehanna Krestos Debre Damo windows, in the Ta’akha Maryam Church, about 40 km north of Lalibela. At the reconstruction drawing and we know that it was beginning of the twentieth century it was thought sculpted in Stela 1 almost a millennium before the that the Debre Damo Church was the only remain- conception of the Yemrehanna Krestos Church. ing built church that had escaped from the devas- Buxton says of one of his predecessors, that ‘He tating hordes of Grañ in the sixteenth century. We does not seem, however, to have realized the full may be sure that, had the D.A.E. known of the exis- significance of the building and his description is tence of the Yemrehanna Krestos Church, they most inadequate’. The lack of transoms and thus would have included it in their programme. That is of monkey heads ‘suggest that the original princi- why it is discussed briefly and ‘constructively’ here. ple of construction – in which the binders play an essential part – was ceasing to be understood, and THE YEMREHANNA KRESTOS CHURCH that the longitudinal beams were used primarily for their decorative effect’83. Although he admits the The Yemrehanna Krestos Church (= show me the strengthening function of the ‘corner-pieces to a way [to?] Christ) is located in an unimaginably limited extent’ (cubic heads), Buxton does not seem beautiful region, against a flank of the Abuna Yosief to have realized the full significance of the beams Mountain, covered with old juniper trees78. In a and his description is most inadequate. The absence deep, partially hewn cavern this jewel hides behind of the ‘binders’ with their monkey heads must be an ugly brick wall79, the sadness of which enhances considered the solution of an architectural problem the aesthetic surprise behind it, once the wall has or as a token of creativity. been passed through. Even though the monkey heads are missing, this church expresses the character of the Aksumite architecture even better than the Debre Damo 78 Balicka-Witakowska/Gervers 2001. Church does, because the contrasting alternation of 79 JT-2005-005-107. 80 JT-2005-005-105. the dark beams and the white stuccoed wall parts is 81 JT-2005-005-103. shown to its full advantage here. Moreover it has 82 JT-2005-005-113. four towers at its corners, and low as they may be 83 Buxton 1947, 15.

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Owing to a lack of height and a lack of light in stylistic demand of monkey heads would procure an the grotto, the distance between the subsequent overkill of firmitas, speaking in Vitruvian terms, and beams is somewhat smaller than in Debre Damo it would certainly not enhance the venustas. ‘…the and a greater number of windows than normally longitudinal wall-timbers were retained chiefly, it was necessary. As explained before, the window and must be supposed, for their decorative value, for door frames strengthen the construction of a build- without the binders they cannot have been a source ing, as do the corner heads on the corners of the of strength to the wall’84. Buxton apparently failed ressaults. If we take the north façade of the church to see the 136 ‘binders’ only on the outside! Omit- (Pl. 19) with its eight windows, entrance door and ting the monkey heads is therefore a practical adap- three ressaults as a starting point, we may count a tation in accordance with the physical circum- considerable number of binders, considering only stances, certainly not a sign of degeneration as the ten lower layers of beams. Each window frame Buxton put it85. has eight connecting points with the beams, the door twelve, each ressault twenty, which totals at CHARACTERISTICS OF AKSUMITE ARCHITECTURE 64 + 12 + 60 = 136 connecting points with the beams. Adding more transoms only to fulfil the Although the aforementioned moon temple of Yeha belongs to the pre-Aksumite era, it has one aspect in common with Aksumite architecture, the com- 84 Buxton 1947, 4. bination and integration of wood and stone. Wood 85 Buxton 1947, 13, 18. was not only used for door and window frames, but

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also as a skeleton inside the walls. The Aksumite From the stelae and the excavations in Aksum, concept of window and door framing seems to be from the churches of Debre Damo and Yemrehanna diametrically opposed to the western concept. Krestos, we may now draw up an inventory of the Where we place the frame parallel to the wall and characteristics of classical Aksumite architecture: discharge it as much as possible in order to make – rectangular or square plans with ditto rooms; doors open and close smoothly and to prevent – stepped foundations continuing above ground panes from braking, the Aksumites place two win- level as a stepped plinth; dow frames transversally in the wall connecting – seven steps leading to the entrance on plinth three layers of beams. The frames actually support level; the walls and strengthen the wall structure. Glass – indented exterior elevations, causing ressaults; was not used to close the openings (Fig. 12)86. The – square column shafts with chamfered edges; same goes for door frames to an even larger extent. – three capital forms: cushion capital, bracket cap- Doors open and close smoothly because doors have ital, and stepped capital. The base may be iden- double frames, the space between the two massive tical to a capital. The bracket capital was devel- transversal frames is filled in with a frame parallel oped from wooden brackets supporting beam to the wall. The whole framing is of such substan- ends, the stepped capital consists of two or more tial dimensions, that it fills the complete thickness concentric squares; of the walls and may connect up to six layers of beams as we have seen inside the entrance hall of the Debre Damo Church. 86 Buxton 1947, 7, Figs 5-6; Krencker 1913, 7, 9, Abb. 9, 15.

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– inner and outer walls made of stone, stuccoed ressault corners, for which the term corner heads and whitewashed, strengthened by receding is introduced; wooden beams with superimposed tie-beams or – friezes of connected window frames, sharing transoms, that serve as wall cramps, the spheri- posts and cubic heads; cal projecting ends of which are called monkey – wooden coffered ceilings; heads. The space between inner and outer wall – rectilinear concepts87. is filled with rubble and mortar; – rectangular door and window frames strength- CONCLUSION ened in the four corners by square transoms, the projecting heads of which are renamed cubic Writing about Ethiopia’s early history is necessarily heads here. Windows and doors may connect up subject to a great deal of speculation as there is so to six layers of beams, thus strengthening the little written evidence left of the period before the overall construction; ravaging of the sixteenth century. Whether or not – wooden corner blocks connecting beam ends on Stela 3 was erected in memory of King Ezana cannot be convincingly denied. But as long as archaeological findings do not dethrone Ezana as the most 87 Munro-Hay/Phillipson 1989, 55-60. The author writes that important king of the Aksumite epoch, there is every in the 1970s, the late Dr Neville Chittick located the so- reason to attribute the stela of the highest rank to called Tomb of the Brick Arches, east of Stela 3, possibly of the late third century. So the curved line was not altogether him, i.e. the stela numbered 1 by the D.A.E. Divid- unknown in tomb architecture. ing the storied stelae into an earthly temporal

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dwelling and a metaphysical eternal palace, is only a BIBLIOGRAPHY first attempt to disclose their iconological meaning. Why the Enda Abuna Aregawi on the Debre Anfray, F. 1990, Les anciens Ethiopiens, Paris. Damo plateau has a main entrance deprived of Balicka-Witakowska, E., M. Gervers 2001, ‘The Church of Aksumite features, may be explained by the fact Yemrähannä Krestos and its Wall-paintings: A Preliminary Report’, Africana Bulletin 49, 9-47. that the entrance hallway was added later with the Brooks, M.F. (transl.) 2002, Kebra Nagast (The Glory of Kings), help of spoils. There is no proof for the opinion that Lawrenceville. the central pillar is standing upside down in its pres- Buxton, D. 1947, ‘The Christian Antiquities of Northern ent situation. But in this case our reasoning may be Ethiopia’, Archaeologia XCII, 1-42. corroborated by more or less similar constructions Buxton, D., D. Matthews 1974, ‘The Reconstruction of Van- in the rock-hewn churches of the Tigre province ished Aksumite Buildings’, Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 25, that Debre Damo is situated in. 53-76. The twelfth-century (?) Church of Yemrehanna Gerster, G. et al. 1968, L’art éthiopien. Églises rupestres, La Pierre-qui-Vire. Krestos has served as a model for at least one other Haslinghuis, E., H. Janse 2001, Bouwkundige termen, Leiden. church in the Lalibelan region. It was presented here Krencker, D. 1913, Ältere Denkmäler Nordabessiniens, Berlin to annihilate the idea that the Debre Damo church (Deutsche Aksum-Expedition, Generalverwaltung der is the only built church in the Aksumite style left königlichen Museen zu Berlin 2). after the sixteenth century and to show the striking Lepage, C., J. Mercier 2005, Art Éthiopien, Les églises historiques similarity with the D.A.E. drawings by Daniel du Tigray, Paris. Krencker. It also shows the practical usefulness of Littmann, E. et al. 1913, Deutsche Aksum-Expedition, Berlin. Matthews, D., A. Mordini 1959, ‘The Monastery of Debra the extended architectural vocabulary by distin- Damo’, Archaeologica XCVII, 1-58. guishing monkey heads from cubic heads and cor- Matthies, V. 2003, Historische Reisen nach Aksum, Europäische ner heads and by opposing petrification and xylifi- Entdecker und Forscher beschreiben das antike Zentrum der cation. äthiopischen Kultur, Berlin. Ethiopian art is hardly a subject of scientific Munro-Hay, S.C. 1991, Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late debate in The Netherlands. The reason must lay in Antiquity, available online: http://users.vnet.net/alight/ the fact that there is no art-historical institute in aksum/mhak1.html. which Ethiopian culture is imbedded. Writing Munro-Hay, S.C., D.W. Phillipson (eds) 1989, Excavations at Aksum: an account of research at the ancient Ethiopian cap- about it is a rather lonely activity. I sincerely hope ital, directed in 1972-1974 by the late Dr Neville Chittick, this article may call forth remarks, and may con- London. tribute to a situation in which students of medieval Phillipson, D.W. 1997, The Monuments of Aksum, compiled and arts will be familiarized with this unique phenom- edited, based on the work in A.D. 1906 of the Deutsche enon of very early-Christian date. The features of Aksum Expedition, Addis Abeba. its architecture and the corresponding terminology, Phillipson, D.W. 1998, Ancient Ethiopia: Aksum: its antecedents gathered and enlarged here, may help to write about and successors, London. Plant, R. 1985, Architecture of the Tigre, Ethiopia, Worcester. it in a more homogeneous way. Salvo, M. di 1999, Churches of Ethiopia. The Monastery of Narga Selassie, Milan. Stappen, X. van der (ed.), 1996, Æthiopia, Volkeren van Ethiopië, Tervuren. Stumpel, J. 1996, ‘The Vatican tazza and other petrifications: an iconological essay on replacement and ritual’, in: X. van Eck et al. (eds): Ten essays for a friend: E. de Jongh 65, Simiolus 24, 2-3, 9-25.

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Fig. 2. Stela 3 (Phillipson, 1997, Fig. 41) Fig. 3. Stela 1 (Phillipson, 1997, Fig. 52)

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Fig. 4. Window tracery on the upper storeys of Stela 1 Fig. 7. Reconstruction of the Dongour complex (Phillipson, 1997, Fig. 51) (Anfray, 1990, 103)

Fig. 6. Reconstruction of an Aksumite palace Fig. 8. Reconstruction of the Debre Damo Church (Phillipson, 1997, Fig. 124) (Anfray, 1990, 169)

74 0347-07_ECA_4(2007)_04 18-08-2008 12:56 Pagina 75

Fig. 9. Plan of the Debre Damo Church Fig. 11. Reconstruction of a room (Buxton, 1947, Fig. 4) (Phillipson, 1998, Fig. 41)

Fig. 12. Window and door construction (Buxton, 1947, 7, Figs 5-6)

Fig. 10. Debre Damo wall construction (Phillipson 1998, Fig. 41)