Travel and Toursim >> Tourist Attractions >> Tigray Tigrai, Ethiopia’s northern most region, has more than 120 rock-hewn churches. It was in 1966 that Abba Josief Tewelde Medhin astonished many Ethiopianists by reading out the list of the churches. Before then, however, only two or three churches were known to scholars. Axum Damo Gheralta Tembein Wukro Yeha           Tembein For many Tigreans, Tembien is a place from which honey and butter are easily fetched, not in trickles but in abundance. For others, it is the mother of great war-winning heroes like Emperor Yohannes IV and Ras Allula Abba Nega. Yet many others remember it for its unique and fascinating dance, ‘Awris’. But very few realize that Tembien is also the site of about twenty rock- hewn churches. Gabriel Wukien, Abba Yohanni, Amanuel Mai-Baha, Mariam Hibito, Abba Selama and Mariam Itsewto are some examples. Tembien used to be considered one of the most inaccessible places in Tigrai. But that inaccessibility seems a thing of the past-history which travellers love to forget. The newly built Mekelle- Abbi Addi-Adwa road has now given Tembien the chance to show her. enthralling elegance and offer the unbounded fragrance. Abba Yohanni The monastery of Abba Yohanni is situated 7.5 Kms along the track that branches off 9Kms north of Abbi Addi on the newly built Abbi Addi- Adwa road and leads to the small town of Menji. On the way, one enjoys the view of Mount Debre Assa, also a site of many medieval rock- hewn churches. The church is visible from quite a distance because of its white washed facade. At the base of the cliff are a number of old trees adding grace to the naked, approximately 300m-high cliff face. The church can only be approached from the west side, leaving the monastic dwellings to the left. After an easy ascent of the rock hill one encounters a rock slide, though it is easily passable, thanks to the cement work built in 1972/73. A dark and steep tunnel-like passage leads to the interior bf the church. The three-aisled and four-bayed church is 13.5m deep and about 12m wide. “Here, the exceptional feature is that the four bays are completely different in width while the domes surmounting them are of widely different diameters and heights,” reports David Buxton. The ceiling of the second bait is 7m high while the domes of the fourth bay are close to 9m. They are “as high as any rock-hewn interior”, remarks Buxton. Its seven freestanding and seven non-freestanding columns are tastefully carved and cruciform in design. A series of crosses are carved on the domes and there are fmely hewn arches “with rudimentary” capitals. A masonry wall, apparently a very recent addition, blocks free passages from one end of the third bay to the other. A few very recent paintings in the masonry depict the twelve Apostles. Even though the masonry of Abba Yohanni is still no less than terra incognita to foreigners, Ethiopians and even to the majority of Tigreans, its existence was first reported to the out side world in 1928 (500 years after its construction) by the Italian traveller Dr. Enzo Parona. Named after the monk, who founded it, the church is, however, famous throughout central Tigrai. This remarkable church has greatly served the highly religious people of the region and in return, has deservedly won fame and respect as a true place of worship as one can witness on its annual festival which takes place on the 5th day of Hidar (14th of November in most years). Gebriel Wukien The church of St. Gebriel Wukien is located l6Kms northwest of the town of Abbi Addi. It is just to the west of the newly constructed Abbi Addi- Adwa road. The church, surrounded by green old trees of different species, it is not visible until one reaches it. From the road it is a 15-minute gentle walk across fields and a further 10-minute ascent of the rocky mountainside. The glamorous mountain of Workamba (literally Mountain of gold) and the far off Gheralta to the west and the magnificent mountains of Adwa to the far north make the site an ideal place for mountain scenery and, of course, for rock-hewing. There is a graveyard and hanging stone bells on the northern side of the churchyard. In front of the rock-hewn church, there is a constructed structure which probably dates from the time to the Italian occupation or later. The hewn ambulatory had two freestanding pillars, 2.2m in height, with inexpertly carved capitals, very much unlike the quality of the church proper. All but the eastern side of the church is separated from the parent rock by a corridor roofed in by flat stone slabs. The corridor measures 15 m from the east to the west end of the southern part of the church, lS.Sm, from the south to the north end and 10.Sm from west to east of the back of the Holy of Holies. The wooden doors from the southern side and one from the eastern side lead into the sanctuary. They are about 1 .8m tall and 80cm across. On the top of the eastern wall, there are three square windows through which daylight enters the church. The three-aisled and four-bayed church is about 13m deep and 9m wide. It has eight huge freestanding pillars, 5m in height, with bracket capitals, at an interval of two meters. They are wonderfully hewn. Also, there are nine non- freestanding columns whose heights range from 2.5m to 3.4m. There are a number of crosses, apparently Croix Pattee, on the domes of both the sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. The panels of the Holy of Holies are decorated with patterns of half-moon arches very similar to those of the Stele of AXUM. The church is painstakingly hewn. It is an edifice foreigners admire. Ruth Plant, the author of the b8ok entitled The Architecture of the Tigre, concludes, “This is undoubtedly the most remarkable church that I saw in Tembien.” According to her it is “comparable” with Mariam Wukro of Imba Seneyti and Medhane Alem Adikesho of Tsaeda Imba because of its “remarkable detail” and “careful carving”. Although it is important to keep an open mind regarding the dates of construction of the rock-hewn churches of Tigrai, local tradition has it that the rock churches of Tembien were built during the reigns of Atse Dawit (1382-1411) and Atse Zera Yacob (1434-1468). Often, there is a wide gap between the opinions of scholars and local tradition regarding the dates of construction of the rock churches of Tigrai. However, scholars and tradition are in perfect agreement that the date of the construction of the church of Gebriel Wukien was the 15th century.

Source: Tigray Tourism

Telephone: 00251-34-440 9360, 00251-34-440 1032,
P.o.Box: 124, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia
E-Mail: tigrai.tourism@ethionet.et