AncientarchitectureCorner Stone of Enda Semeon, Aksum
Parts of Aksumite monumental buildings in the city-centre of Aksum; corner-stone of Enda Semeon
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
The Habesha History collection
Architecture & the arts.
Buildings, objects and painted pages from Ethiopia and Eritrea.
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Architecture
Tigray
56 records
Recorded place
Aksum
Tigray · Ethiopia
25 plates
Ancientarchitecture
AncientarchitectureThreshold of Takha Maryam, Aksum
Parts of Aksumite monumental buildings in the city-centre of Aksum; threshold of Takha Maryam.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureThe Underground Mausoleum, Aksum
Inner faces of the Mausoleum entrances: a, b - the inner face of the eastern portal, showing the upright syenite slabs which formerly supported a brick arch; c - the western arch as exposed, before excavation of the deposits with which it was blocked.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
Ancientarchitecture
AncientarchitectureLate Aksumite Architecture in Trench DJ9, Aksum
Excavation of Late Aksumite structures in progress in trench DJ9
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureTomb of Bazen, Aksum
The'Tomb of Bazen': a - the foot of the adit, showing roughly carved loculi in the adit wall and the entrance to the transverse chamber; b - the entrance to the transverse chamber; c - a view up the adit from the transverse chamber; d - inside the transverse chamber, showing loculi
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureGrand Stairway of Monument A, Aksum
Axoum. Grand escalier du monument A. Fig. 21. Axoum. Façade ouest du bâtiment central, monument A.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureSteps and Platform Extension of ST XXIIH, Aksum
ST XXIIH: the steps and first platform extension. In the foreground, wall B to the east, more platform packing to the south, and a possible platform extension wall in the east section almost removed by pit 4d. Fig. 6.36.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureES 1 Pillar Base and Foundations, Aksum
(top). ES 1: pillar base (re-used?) resting on rubble foundations at level 7. Plate 8.2 (centre). ES I from the north, showing paved court at level of demolished wall F. In the background a step is flanked by walls A and B, both with timber beams.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureThe Great Stele (Stele 1), Aksum
The Great Stele of Aksum, at c. 33 m the largest monolith its makers ever attempted, carved as a thirteen-storey tower-house; it fell while being raised and lies broken across the stelae field.
- Date
- c. 4th century AD
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureThe Obelisk of Aksum (Stele 2)
The 24 m second stele of Aksum, carved with false doors and window storeys; looted to Rome in 1937 and re-erected in the stelae field in 2008.
- Date
- c. 4th century AD
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureKing Ezana's Stele (Stele 3), Aksum
The 21 m third stele of Aksum, the largest still standing where its makers raised it, carved as a nine-storey tower with a false door at its base.
- Date
- c. 4th century AD
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureNorthern Stelae Park, Aksum
The northern stelae field of Aksum, where more than a hundred funerary monoliths — from rough slabs to the great carved tower-stelae — stand over the shaft tombs of the Aksumite elite.
- Date
- c. 3rd–4th century AD
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureTomb of the False Door, Aksum
The Tomb of the False Door in the western stelae field, a megalithic chamber tomb entered beneath a carved granite portal imitating the doors on the great stelae.
- Date
- Aksumite period
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureTomb of the Brick Arches, Aksum
The Tomb of the Brick Arches at Aksum, a rock-cut elite tomb whose chambers are entered through horseshoe arches of fired brick — the earliest known use of the form in the region.
- Date
- Aksumite period
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureTombs of Kaleb and Gebre Meskel, Aksum
The twin subterranean tombs attributed to the emperors Kaleb and Gebre Meskel on the hill north-east of Aksum, their chambers built of precisely fitted granite megaliths.
- Date
- 6th century (attributed to the reigns of Kaleb and Gebre Meskel)
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureDungur (the 'Palace of the Queen of Sheba'), Aksum
The ruins of Dungur on the western edge of Aksum, a great elite mansion of drystone walls and monumental stairways around a central pavilion, popularly called the palace of the Queen of Sheba.
- Date
- Aksumite period
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureGudit Stelae Field, Aksum
The Gudit stelae field south-west of Aksum opposite Dungur, a spread of mostly plain, smaller monoliths marking the burials of Aksumites below the royal elite.
- Date
- Aksumite period
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
MedievalarchitectureOld Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, Aksum
The old cathedral of Maryam Tsion at Aksum, rebuilt in Gondarine style on the podium of Ethiopia's first great church; the traditional sanctuary of the Ark of the Covenant stands in its precinct.
- Date
- 17th century (rebuilt under Emperor Fasilides)
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureAbba Pentalewon Monastery, Aksum
The monastery of Abba Pentalewon on its rocky hill north-east of Aksum, founded by tradition by one of the Nine Saints on the site of a pre-Christian shrine; the present church is a later rebuilding.
- Date
- 6th century (traditional foundation by Abba Pentalewon); present church later
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
ModernarchitectureNew Cathedral of Our Lady Mary of Zion, Aksum
The new cathedral of Maryam Tsion at Aksum, a domed concrete church built for Emperor Haile Selassie beside the old Gondarine cathedral, with its free-standing bell tower modelled on the stelae.
- Date
- 1960s (built for Emperor Haile Selassie I)
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureTomb of Nefas Mewecha, Aksum
The Tomb of Nefas Mewecha east of the stelae field at Aksum, a megalithic chamber tomb whose great roofing slab is among the largest dressed stones on the site.
- Date
- Aksumite period
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
architectureKidane Mehret archaeological structures, Aksum
Stone walling at Kidane Mehret, Aksum, an indigenous farming settlement of the mid-first millennium BC, excavated in 1996.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
architectureAksum Mausoleum
Aksum, inside the ‘Mausoleum’, the complex fourth-century tomb whose position the largest stela was intended to mark, 1995.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
architectureRock Tomb, Aksum
Aksum, the so-called ‘Rock Tomb’, undated and apparently unfinished, 1994.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
Recorded place
Bilet
Tigray · Ethiopia
4 plates
MedievalarchitectureQuadrangular House, Bilet
View of the interior of the house looking from the West
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
MedievalarchitectureCircular House on the Quadrangular Building, Bilet
The circular house installed on the eastern wall of the quadrangular building
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
Medievalarchitecture
MedievalarchitectureArra Muslim Cemetery
Arra Muslim cemetery along the wadi Fig.108b: Muslim tombs’ current surface markers
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
Recorded place
Yeha
Tigray · Ethiopia
3 plates
AncientarchitectureGreat Temple of Yeha
The Great Temple of Yeha, a windowless tower of finely dressed ashlar standing to some 14 m — the oldest standing structure in Ethiopia, built for the Sabaean-influenced polity of Diʿamat.
- Date
- c. 8th–7th century BC
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitecturePalace of Grat Beʿal Gebri, Yeha
The ruins of Grat Beʿal Gebri at Yeha, a monumental pre-Aksumite building on a high stepped podium with a propylon of square monolithic pillars, contemporary with the Great Temple.
- Date
- c. 8th–7th century BC
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
AncientarchitectureChurch of Abba Afse, Yeha
The church of Abba Afse at Yeha, beside the Great Temple, whose walls reuse dressed blocks and carved ibex friezes from the pre-Aksumite buildings of the site; founded by tradition by one of the Nine Saints.
- Date
- 6th century (traditional foundation by Abba Afse); present church later
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
Other recorded places
16 plates
architectureGunda-Gunde Monastery Complex
A 1950s view of the dedication church inside Gunda-Gunde Monastery, paired with a later wide photograph as site context for the mountain monastic compound. The later image is not claimed as an exact view of the same church fabric.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Agame
architectureAgula Enda Tcherqos
Agula, view from the southwest of the ruins of Enda Tcherqos, 2006.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Agula
architectureMika’el Amba
Mika’el Amba, the west façade, showing late twentieth-century alterations to the doorway, 2006.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Atsbi area
architectureMika’el Debra Selam
Mika’el Debra Selam, exterior of the inner church, viewed from the southeast, 2006. The ‘porch’ is visible on the left.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Atsbi area
AncientarchitectureDebre Damo Monastery
The monastery of Debre Damo on its sheer-sided amba, reached only by rope; its main church is held to be the oldest standing built church in Ethiopia, in classic Aksumite wood-and-stone construction.
- Date
- 6th century (traditional foundation, reign of Gebre Meskel)
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Debre Damo
MedievalarchitectureAbuna Yemata Guh
The church of Abuna Yemata Guh, hollowed into a sandstone pinnacle of the Gheralta range and reached by a bare-handed cliff climb.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Gheralta
MedievalarchitectureMaryam Korkor, Gheralta
The rock-hewn church of Maryam Korkor high on the Gheralta massif, a large cruciform church with a built facade, reached by a steep climb from the plain.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Gheralta
MedievalarchitectureGiyorgis Maikado, Hawzen
The rock-hewn church of Giyorgis Maikado near Hawzen, cut into a low sandstone outcrop of the Gheralta plain.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Hawzen
architectureHawzien Plain vernacular farmstead
A typical Tigray farmstead on the northeastern edge of the Hawzien Plain, 1997.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Hawzien Plain
ModernarchitectureYohannes IV Palace, Mekelle
The palace of Emperor Yohannes IV at Mekelle, a fortified two-storey stone residence of the 1880s, now a museum.
- Date
- 1880s (reign of Emperor Yohannes IV)
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Mekelle
architectureAl Nejashi Mosque, Negash
The mosque at Negash, the village where the first Muslim emigrants were received by the king of Aksum; the shrine and its cemetery mark one of the oldest Muslim sites in Africa. The present building is modern.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Negash
MedievalarchitectureMikael Milhaizengi
Mikael Milhaizengi, a small domed rock-hewn church of the Teka Tesfai group in eastern Tigray, its cupola cut from the living rock.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Teka Tesfai
MedievalarchitectureChurch of Ura Masqal
L'église d'Urā Masqal, réemployant des vestiges de l'ancienne église: pilier monolithique, fenêtres en pierres ajourées, caissons de bois sculpté à motif géométrique
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Ura Masqal
AncientarchitectureBuilding D2, Wakarida
Two excavated views of Building D2 at Wakarida, printed together as comparative Aksumite architecture in the Bilet field report.
- Date
- Aksumite period
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Wakarida
MedievalarchitectureAbreha we Atsbeha Church
The rock-hewn church of Abreha we Atsbeha, cut deep into the cliff between Wukro and Hawzen; its cruciform pillared interior is among the largest of the Tigray rock churches.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Wukro
MedievalarchitectureWukro Chirkos Church
Wukro Chirkos, a semi-monolithic rock-hewn church standing at the edge of Wukro town, its cruciform plan and carved ceilings characteristic of the Tigray group.
- Type
- Architecture & ruins
- Place
- Wukro
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