What the record shows
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
- Date
- Not recorded in the catalogue
- Object type
- sacred art
- Recorded place
- Ethiopia