http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/sandamichaela-2146248-ethiopia18/

Lake Tana is Ethiopia's largest lake and famous for the churches and monasteries on 20 of the lake's 37 islands. Located in Amhara Region in the north-western Ethiopian Highlands, the lake is approximately 84 kilometers long and 66 kilometers wide, with a maximum depth of 15 meters, and an elevation of 1,788 meters. The Lake is known as the home of the Monasteries founded on some of the 20 of its 37 Islands. The thatch roof atop the church at Azuwa Maryam helps make it the best looking church on Zege (currently Bete Maryam is the only other church with thatch), though its paintings and small museum are more ordinary. Don’t miss the religious school for priests and deacons here.

The Lake has been formed by volcanic activity, blocking the course of inflowing rivers in the early Pleistocene times circa 5 million years ago.

Papyrus boat-making — once a vital activity that has built fleets and shaped the course of empires — now only exists as a sustained part of a local economy here, on Lake Tana, just off Bahir Dar in northwest Ethiopia.“Bahir Dar” literally means “by the sea.” The term can also describe a big lake, and that fits Lake Tana. Covering more than 3,000 square kilometers, Lake Tana is by far the largest body of water in Ethiopia.

Azuwa Maryam is a two-minute walk from the landing; the same landing used for Ura Kidane Meret

Many of the churches and monasteries of Lake Tana are very famous

cultural museums because of their beautiful mural paintings and many other

valuable treasures such as

varieties of crosses, crowns,

costumes of Kings, illuminated

manuscripts, mummified bodies and remains of

several Ethiopia Emperors in

wooden coffins and glass boxes

the "qene mehlet", the outer corridor

the "qene mehlet", the outer corridor

the "qene mehlet", the outer corridor

the Lake Tana churches have three spaces: • the outer corridor, the "qene mehlet", accessible to anyone; • an inner circular corridor called the "qiddist" which is used by the worshippers at mass; and • the holiest room, the "maqdas" in which the "tabot" - a stone tablet with the 10 commandments and where only priests may enter.

the "qene mehlet", the outer corridor

Lake Tana has thirty-seven islands, twenty of which are home to churches and monasteries. Some of them dated back to the 13th century and many others are dated from the 14th century to the Gonderine period of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The inner circular corridor called the "qiddist“ is used by the worshippers at mass

The Lake Tana area was

important in the fourteenth,

fifteenth and sixteenth

centuries in view of its role in

maintaining the Christian faith

against contemporary pressures, and the rise of the

Solomonic Dynasty which patronized the

building of churches and monasteries.

Many of the earliest

manuscripts and precious

examples of ecclesiastical art as well as royal

objects were safely stored in their treasuries.

At the same time, new religious arts were developed and displayed in the churches.

The oldest of these forty or so churches have

their origins in the fourteenth

century. They reflect the native building tradition

in their round shape, materials

and building techniques.

The monasteries are traditionally built in the old style, being round.

Seven of the most accessible and representative of these churches, still serving their original function, have been selected by UNESCO for the international campaign: Kebran Gabriel, Ura Kidane Mehret, Narga Selassie, Daga Estifanos, Medhane Alem of Rema, Kota Maryam and Mertola Maryam.

Sound: Byzantine chant - Τη Υπερμάχω Στρατηγώ

Text: InternetPictures: Sanda Foişoreanu Sanda Negruţiu Daniel Scrãdeanu Alin Samochis InternetCopyright: All the images belong to their authors

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuwww.slideshare.net/michaelasanda