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Christianity's First Centuries in Africa |
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| Reflections on Christianity: Two Perspectives on Ethiopia's Living Tradition By Alisa LaGamma; Chester Higgins, Jr., photographer |
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 figure 8  figure 9 |
In an adjacent courtyard, the comparatively
small church of Saint Mary is notable for its decorative details
and color. Three elaborate porches lead to the three-aisled interior,
with columns, arches, and ceilings finely carved and painted. The
nave is higher than the aisles and features an Aksumite frieze of
false-window apertures above the arcade. At its east end is a tall
pillar, kept permanently wrapped, on which “the
past and future of the world” are said to be inscribed (Phillipson,
Monuments, 135). Carved in the wall of the trench facing the church
of Saint Mary are the interconnected chapel-like spaces of Saint
Michael, Golgotha, and the Trinity. Golgotha is decorated with a
unique series of lifesize relief figurative carvings and houses two
highly venerated tombs, traditionally identified as those of Lalibela
and Christ (Phillipson, Monuments, 135). Most imposing and elegant among the Eastern group of churches, Emmanuel is cut into a cliff to which it is joined at the roof. Its exterior clearly displays many features derived from Aksumite architecture, with wood beams and doorways represented in stone, as on the stelae at Aksum. Situated apart in splendid isolation and circumscribed by a deep trench is the celebrated cruciform church of Saint George. According to tradition this exceptionally well preserved structure is the most recent of the Lalibela churches (Phillipson, Monuments, 136). Variations on the cruciform motif also define window apertures of the Lalibela churches. These configurations are not intended to be merely decorative but rather to impart protection ascribed to the Sign of the Cross (Heldman, 137). As noted earlier, both Aksum and Lalibela harvested the stone of the mountainous highlands region and developed distinctive practices for transforming it into markers of their faith that have endured over the centuries. While fundamental continuities in design sensibility unite these two chapters in northern Ethiopia’s art history, new life was breathed into the exploitation of that shared medium at Lalibela. Aksumite practices of quarrying, transporting, and carving stone were recast at Lalibela by directly excavating, hollowing, and transforming the mountains into spiritual spaces (Munro-Hay, Ethiopia, 187). Imprinted within Lalibela’s landscape, the boundaries between the man-made and nature are ultimately fluid. These remarkable Ethiopian worship sites are astonishing for their transposition of the art of sculpture to a fully experiential level. Among the most important and venerated of the moveable treasures preserved within each church are around a dozen crosses that are displayed in ceremonial processions to mark holy days. Conceived of at once as a potent symbol of protection and the triumphant resurrection of Christ, the Cross of the Crucifixion occupies a central role in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The first feast of the year, Mesqal, commemorates the finding of the True Cross by Queen Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine. On the occasion of such communal celebrations, the visibility of each cross is enhanced by its mounting at the summit of a tall staff inserted into a hollow shaft at the base. This is in turn adorned or “dressed” with rich fabrics (Walters, 75). |
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