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Ura Kidane Mehret is a
Ura Kidane Mehret is a round church
A round church is a church with a completely circular plan, thus a rotunda in architectural terms.
There are many Nordic round churches in Sweden and Denmark (notably the island of Bornholm); round churches were popular in Scandinavia in the ...
of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church () is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates bac ...
, located on the Zege peninsula around Lake Tana
Lake Tana (; previously transcribed Tsana) is the largest lake in Ethiopia and a source of the Blue Nile. Located in Amhara Region in the north-western Ethiopian Highlands, the lake is approximately long and wide, with a maximum depth of , and ...
in Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
. It is part of the complex of the Convent of Mercy. At least one author considers it the most attractive church in the Lake Tana region.Philip Briggs, ''Guide to Ethiopia'', fifth edition (Old Saybrook: Globe Pequot Press, 2009), p. 211
The Ura Kidane Mehret convent
A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community.
The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
was founded in the 14th century by the saint Betre Mariyam (Amharic
Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...
"Rod of Mary"), although the present circular church dates from the 16th century. Its interior is decorated with numerous murals painted between 100 and 250 years ago; subjects include ''Negus
''Negus'' is the word for "king" in the Ethiopian Semitic languages and a Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, title which was usually bestowed upon a regional ruler by the Ethiopian Emperor, Negusa Nagast, or "king of kings," in pre-1974 Et ...
'' Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam
Tekle Haymanot Tesema, also known as Adal Tesema, Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam, and Tekle Haimanot of Gojjam ( 1847 – 10 January 1901), was King of Gojjam. He was later an army commander and a member of the nobility of the Ethiopian Empire.
...
and his followers. The most significant were painted by ''Alaqa
The title Aleqa ("Master", also transliterated Alaqa) is a honorific title used in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. It is used as the title of a chief priest of a major church, the head of a monastery, as well as being an honorific for a h ...
'' Engida during the reign of Emperor Menelik II
Menelik II ( ; horse name Aba Dagnew (Amharic: አባ ዳኘው ''abba daññäw''); 17 August 1844 – 12 December 1913), baptised as Sahle Maryam (ሣህለ ማርያም ''sahlä maryam'') was king of Shewa from 1866 to 1889 and Emperor of Et ...
. The church has its treasury in a nearby outbuilding, which contains the richly embroidered robes of ''Negus'' Tekle Haymanot and his wife Laqetch Gegre Mehdin, as well as the crowns of Emperor Yohannes IV
Yohannes IV ( Tigrinya: ዮሓንስ ፬ይ ''Rabaiy Yōḥānnes''; horse name Abba Bezbiz also known as Kahśsai; born ''Lij'' Kahssai Mercha; 11 July 1837 – 10 March 1889) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1871 to his death in 1889 at the ...
, Emperor Tewodros II
Tewodros II (, once referred to by the English cognate Theodore; baptized as Kassa, – 13 April 1868) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death in 1868. His rule is often placed as the beginning of modern Ethiopia and brought an end to ...
, ''Negus'' Tekle Haymanot, and Emperor Tekle Giyorgis Tekle Giyorgis may refer to
* Tekle Giyorgis I (c. 1751–1817), Emperor of Ethiopia
* Tekle Giyorgis II (died 1873), Emperor of Ethiopia
{{hndis, Giyorgis, Tekle ...
.Stuart Munro-Hay, ''Ethiopia, the unknown land: a cultural and historical guide'' (London: I.B. Tauris, 2002), p. 176
References
Amhara Region Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo church buildings 16th-century Oriental Orthodox church buildings 16th-century churches in Ethiopia {{EthiopianOrthodox-church-stub