Ethiopia 18, Lake Tana, Azuwa Maryam Monastery

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ETHIOPIA
18
Lake Tana
Azuwa Maryam Monastery
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LAKETANA
Lake Tana is Ethiopia's largest lake and famous
for the churches and monasteries on 20 of the
lake's 37 islands. Located in Amhara Region in
the north-western Ethiopian Highlands, the lake
is approximately 84 kilometers long and 66
kilometers wide, with a maximum depth of 15
meters, and an elevation of 1,788 meters. The
Lake is known as the home of the Monasteries
founded on some of the 20 of its 37 Islands. The
thatch roof atop the church at Azuwa Maryam helps
make it the best looking church on Zege
(currently Bete Maryam is the only other church
with thatch), though its paintings and small
museum are more ordinary. Dont miss the
religious school for priests and deacons here.
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The Lake has been formed by volcanic activity,
blocking the course of inflowing rivers in the
early Pleistocene times circa 5 million years
ago.
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Papyrus boat-making once a vital activity that
has built fleets and shaped the course of empires
now only exists as a sustained part of a local
economy here, on Lake Tana, just off Bahir Dar in
northwest Ethiopia. Bahir Dar literally means
by the sea. The term can also describe a big
lake, and that fits Lake Tana. Covering more than
3,000 square kilometers, Lake Tana is by far the
largest body of water in Ethiopia.
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Azuwa Maryam is a two-minute walk from the
landing the same landing used for Ura Kidane
Meret
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Many of the churches and monasteries of Lake Tana
are very famous cultural museums because of their
beautiful mural paintings and many other valuable
treasures such as varieties of crosses, crowns,
costumes of Kings, illuminated manuscripts,
mummified bodies and remains of several Ethiopia
Emperors in wooden coffins and glass boxes
the "qene mehlet", the outer corridor
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the "qene mehlet", the outer corridor
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the "qene mehlet", the outer corridor
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the Lake Tana churches have three spaces the
outer corridor, the "qene mehlet", accessible to
anyone an inner circular corridor called the
"qiddist" which is used by the worshippers at
mass and the holiest room, the "maqdas" in
which the "tabot" - a stone tablet with the 10
commandments and where only priests may enter.
the "qene mehlet", the outer corridor
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Lake Tana has thirty-seven islands, twenty of
which are home to churches and monasteries. Some
of them dated back to the 13th century and many
others are dated from the 14th century to the
Gonderine period of the 17th and 18th centuries.
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The inner circular corridor called the "qiddist
is used by the worshippers at mass
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The Lake Tana area was important in the
fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in
view of its role in maintaining the Christian
faith against contemporary pressures, and the
rise of the Solomonic Dynasty which patronized
the building of churches and monasteries.
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Many of the earliest manuscripts and precious
examples of ecclesiastical art as well as royal
objects were safely stored in their treasuries.
At the same time, new religious arts were
developed and displayed in the churches.
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The oldest of these forty or so churches have
their origins in the fourteenth century. They
reflect the native building tradition in their
round shape, materials and building techniques.
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The monasteries are traditionally built in the
old style, being round.
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Seven of the most accessible and representative
of these churches, still serving their original
function, have been selected by UNESCO for the
international campaign Kebran Gabriel, Ura
Kidane Mehret, Narga Selassie, Daga Estifanos,
Medhane Alem of Rema, Kota Maryam and Mertola
Maryam.
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Text Internet Pictures Sanda Foisoreanu
Sanda Negrutiu Daniel
Scradeanu Alin Samochis
Internet All  copyrights  belong to their
 respective owners Presentation Sanda
Foisoreanu
2014
Sound Byzantine chant - ?? ?pe?µ???
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