About this work
The source identifies this shrine in Bete Mercurios, Lalibela, with Saint Abbo (Gäbrä Mänfäs Qəddus). The photograph records the painting and its furnishings.
Original catalogue wording
Shrine to St. Abbo, Bet Mercurios, Lalibela, Ethiopia (3306600481)
This shrine in the Church of Bet Mercurios honors St. Abbo. According to flickerite PJBayens, who identified this saint for me in a painting several churches ago, "Saint Gebre Menfes Kidus, more popularly known as Saint Abbo . . . founded the monastery on Mount Zuqwala (various spellings)." "Like the Western St. Francis, he's portrayed with animals--and clothed in his own body hair. He's featured in one of the stained glass windows in the church of Tekle Haymanot in Debre Libanos." This is the first painting I photographed in Ethiopia dedicated solely to St,. Abbo. In other churches, St. Abbo appeared in one panel on a canvas with many other panels depicting other religious stories. It's a lovely little shrine, with its polychrome basket, the lovely botanical print fabric on the table that supports the painting, a sprinkling of incense on the table top, and what appear to be fresh roses
Source classification: sacred art
- Date
- Not recorded in the catalogue
- Object type
- Sacred art
- Recorded place
- Ethiopia