Ethiopia - a pilgrimage - in Addis Ababa Holy Trinity Cathedral

Interior of the Cathedral

From the National Museum in Addis Ababa we moved on to the Trinity (Selassie) Cathedral, where Emperor Haile Selassie is buried, along with his wife Menen, in enormous granite tombs. They were moved here in November 2000, back to the cathedral which he founded in 1931, to commemorate liberation from Italian occupation. The great and colourful reburial ceremony and procession, a full 25 years after the Emperor's death, was attended by a large Rastafarian community which included Bob Marley's wife Rita. 

Exterior of the Cathedral

Moses and his tablets of stone with Ge'ez numbers
just one of many very beautiful windows

After removing our shoes outside (something we have to do throughout the country when visiting any of its churches and monasteries - along with respecting the demarcation of males keeping to the left, females to the right of each church), we enter the cathedral, suffused with the heady scent of incense. I certainly feel at home here! We were immediately struck by the most beautiful stained glass windows illustrating Ethiopian interpretations of the New Testament and Old Testament stories - to the right and left hand side of the cathedral respectively. The stained glass window of Moses with the tablets brought down from Mount Sinai uses the numbers of the Ge'ez language, the language unique to Ethiopian Orthodoxy and used in its liturgy and other spoken or chanted texts. The windows are truly beautiful and each one merits detailed examination. 

Holy of Holies containing Ark of Covenant
replica 

detail of cathedral exterior

The cathedral also has the most beautiful wall and ceiling paintings and uniquely, it actually displays its copy of the Ark of the Covenant - usually hidden from public gaze behind the curtains shielding the Holy of Holies Sanctuary in other churches. But what struck me most was the devotion of the local populace - mothers bringing their young children into the building after school to pray and display their faith very publicly. A little girl in her blue school uniform was prostrated before the Ark of the Covenant, and there was a constant stream of people coming in to venerate, to pray, to sit…

Sylvia Pankhurst grave

the granite tomb of Haile selassie

Outside the cathedral we find the grave for Sylvia Pankhurst, the famous UK suffragette and an active supporter of Ethiopian culture and independence since the Italian invasion in 1935, friend of Haile Selassie and whose son Richard still lives here.

Ethiopia - a pilgrimage - Addis Ababa National Museum

giant tortoises at the museum

 Addis Ababa has so very much to offer the tourist and we can only scratch its surface. Do go if you can and discover more of this great destination for yourself.

National Museum interior

Pushkin

We are on a pilgrimage to Ethiopia in search of the Ark of the Covenant - and we spend our first day on arrival in Addis Ababa exploring that city before we set off North to Tigrai and the first of the rock- hewn churches on our itinerary.

If you are in Addis Ababa the National Museum of Ethiopia is a must to visit. It is set in pleasant gardens with giant tortoises crawling among beautiful hibiscus bushes and flowering cannas, and with plenty of inspiring statues and sculptures, (including a statue of the great Russian poet Pushkin) Once inside it is organised over four floors.

Lucy

naughty English!

Ethiopia hosts the most complete and richest source of human ancestry evidence - the Rift Valley has been a giant fossil trap for the last ten million years - and here is to be found the earliest record of stone tool making. This is admirably displayed in the paleoanthropology and prehistoric artefacts exhibition in the basement, where there is an excellently informative display of the famous Lucy, our earliest known human ancestor. This 3.5 million year old discovery has made us totally rethink the evolution of mankind. Basically our ancestors were walking 2.5 million years earlier than we had previously supposed. Lucy is so called because "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was played in the archaeologists' camp when the discovery was made. She is known as Dinquinesh to Ethiopians - meaning "thou art wonderful".

but it came back to Addis!

Ethnographic collection in need of labelling

Moving up from the basement to the ground floor we find a pre-Axumite to 20th century archaeological and historical heritage exhibit, including 2600 year old pre-Aksumite fertility statues; there is a traditional and modern display of Ethiopian works of art on the first floor, which I thoroughly enjoyed; and on the top floor we found a fascinating ethnographic collection, suffering sadly from a lack of decent labelling but interesting none-the-less. Don't expect the usual razzmatazz of Western museums - café, shop and decent toilets - but be fascinated by artefacts of a totally different culture, one which we shall have the pleasure of exploring further over the next ten days.

Ethiopia - a pilgrimage in search of the Ark of the Covenant

Addis School children 

All my inoculations are up to date - hepatitis A, diphtheria, tetanus, typhoid, polio and yellow fever, and I've been taking the malarial tablets for a week. I'm ready to leave for Ethiopia "in search of the Ark of the Covenant" along with the other 13 in this party of pilgrims organised by McCabe Pilgrimages. So it is that after a busy Sunday in our local church I find myself at the airport in the early evening for the overnight flight to Addis Ababa, the world's third highest capital city - sprawling across the southern slopes of central Ethiopia's Entoto hills and reaching an altitude of more than 2600m at its highest point.

detail of the roof in Holy Trinity Cathedral
Addis

As we start the descent into Addis Ababa after a fairly sleepless night - why do airlines turn up the lights again and serve breakfast just as you are beginning to nod off from sheer exhaustion? - the scenery below us is stunning - the rock formations are incredible, and the mountains appear to be cut into huge slices of cake with precipitous drops from huge plateaus. I fear I see a little air pollution hanging at the base of the hills in the near distance though.

Addis street view on way to hotel

We arrive into a chilly dawn, staggering bleary eyed into an airport which is much quieter than I imagined. We are very soon being whisked off to our small coach and introduced to our driver and our wonderful guide Johannes who will accompany us throughout the trip. Although the air is brisk, the sky is a clear pale blue, tinged with the various hues of a pink dawn and promising a pleasantly warm day ahead. Already the streets are very busy with people scurrying to work, if they are lucky enough to have a job to go to. It is soon apparent that unemployment is a problem here, as we see scores of young men poring over the huge notice boards which we are told list work vacancies. The contrasts everywhere are stark: modern buildings tower over mud and corrugated iron roofed huts, beggars plead on street corners as children in their neat uniforms stride purposefully to their schools, bundles of books under their arms, and there are small flocks of sheep standing around for sale awaiting their fate - these are destined for private homes where they will be slaughtered by the family, skinned and butchered for the next few meals.

City of Refuge Church sign

bustling Addis early morning

We are glad to arrive at our hotel where we have a welcome breakfast. Eggs will be cooked however you like them as you watch - I particularly like the omelettes which incorporate finely chopped onions, tomatoes, peppers and chillies - very tasty. We have time for a few hours rest before we are taken on an orientation tour of the city. The National Ethiopian Football Team is staying in the hotel - there seem to be presentations going on and much noise in the room next to mine! I am reluctantly forced to ask a maid if they could please be quieter. Once we are suitably refreshed we will visit the National Museum of Ethiopia, a must to see on everyone's visit to Addis Ababa, and the Trinity Cathedral where Emperor Haile Selassie and his wife are buried, with its wonderful stained glass windows and wall paintings.More about that in the next post...