Axum is famous for two things. Firstly there’s the stelae or obelisks made from stone, and secondly there’s the Ark of the Covenant (according to Ethiopian Orthodox belief).
We took a guide to Stelae Park this morning. He gave us a good explanation of the site but I was a bit disappointed with the obelisk tomb markers. Despite knowing that there would be some fallen obelisks, I had expected something more intact. According to our guide, only about 5% of Axumite ruins have been excavated so maybe I should pay a visit in a century or two. There was a little bit of mess from restoration and reconstruction which didn’t help with the appeal of the site. Stelae Park included a large pond which was Queen of Sheba’s bath.
For lunch we took a “fasting” meal, which meant vegetarian in Ethiopian Orthodox tradition. They are vegetarian on Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s so easy to be vegetarian when the food has so much flavour!
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- Stelae park.
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- Work in progress.
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- The big broken stele … some say it was never erected as it was too big and disproportionate.
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- The big broken stele … some say it was never erected as it was too big and disproportionate.
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- The big broken stele … some say it was never erected as it was too big and disproportionate.
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- The big broken stele … some say it was never erected as it was too big and disproportionate.
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- Bread baskets.
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- Bread baskets.
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- Queen of Sheba’s bath.
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- Camels near the Sycamore tree.
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- Sycamore tree.
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- Marie buying a notebook.
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- Tailor in town.
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- Orthodox Ethiopians are vegetarians on Wednesday and Friday. Otherwise Ethiopian food seems to have lots of meat and very little veg 🙁
After lunch, at Ezana park we were meant to see inscriptions housed in a lock shed but weren’t able to enter. We continued to the Queen of Sheba’s palace which comprised of just rock walls now.
Next stop, St Mary’s of Axum, was a men-only site. I left Marie to do her own thing while I made this visit. The museum had a nice collection of gold crowns, vestment and other artifacts. A new St Mary’s church was nearby on the site. But more importantly, located between the two was a small building that houses the Ark of the Covenant with the Tablets of the Ten Commandments. In Ethiopian Orthodox belief, a church isn’t a church without a replica of the tablets.
There’s only one specific monk that’s allowed to see the Ark. Even the big bishop isn’t allowed.
With the sightseeing done, we returned to the hotel for a macchiato and an Ambo. We spoke to our hotel guide regarding onward travel options. We opted for the easy but costly option of taking a semi-private van to Gonder, shared with an Ethiopian Jew from Israel. It beats three days of local buses with two nightstops en route. “Easy” is a relative term as it would still be a full twelve hours travel, we estimate.
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- Cactus of some sort.
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- Life of an archaeologist … yes the one under the tree.
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- Queen of Sheba’s palace.
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- Queen of Sheba’s palace.
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- New St Mary’s.
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- Inside New St Mary’s.
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- Inside New St Mary’s.
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- Book inside New St Mary’s.
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- Old bell tower and the new bell tower behind.
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- Inside Old St Mary’s of Axum.
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- Old St Mary’s of Axum.
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- This houses the Ark of the Covenant (which contains the Ten Commandments).
