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- Ground: XIV century.
Ur Kidane Mehret - a monastery on the Zege Peninsula, next to Lake Tana , the largest in the country. Although the temple is old enough and has not been restored for a long time, it has been preserved in excellent condition, and numerous drawings are still clear and saturated. Ur Hidane Mehret is considered one of the most beautiful traditional temples in Ethiopia .
Ur Kidane Mehret - a monastery on the Zege Peninsula, next to Lake Tana , the largest in the country. Although the temple is old enough and has not been restored for a long time, it has been preserved in excellent condition, and numerous drawings are still clear and saturated. Ur Hidane Mehret is considered one of the most beautiful traditional temples in Ethiopia .
Description
The monastery was founded in the XIV century, but the temple, as indicated in official sources, only 200 years later. The kind that we can see today, was given to him in the XVII century. Since then, the building has not undergone significant changes: the monks took care of it as much as possible.
Ur Kidane Mehret is dedicated to the patron of Ethiopia - George the Victorious. The name of this biblical character is named quite a lot of churches in the country, but this monastery is the most popular among pilgrims. Unlike other similar monasteries located on the islands, in Ur Khitan Mehret is allowed to enter the women.
Architecture
The key element in the architectural ensemble of Ur Kidane Mehret is the temple. The structure has a round shape and a conical roof. The temple is surrounded by numerous buildings with clay walls. Some of them are living quarters, while others are household.
Among these ordinary buildings there is one that looks more thoroughly - it's a treasure chest. It stores valuable items:
- personal belongings of the imperial families of Ethiopia;
- Crown of Johannes IV, Theodos II, Tekla Heimanot and Tekle Giorgis;
- clothes of emperors.
Visiting the monastery
Ur Hidane Mehret is among the tall coffee trees, on the edge of a dense forest. There are many monkeys that, when tourists appear, hide or even escape to another part of the peninsula.
The temple first conquers its painted walls outside and inside. The plot of the paintings is scenes from the Bible, mostly with the participation of the Virgin and St. George. Drawings are not less than 100 years old, while the colors are incredibly bright. The temple is so small that tourists usually take half an hour to view it completely.
When visiting a new place, you always want to buy a souvenir for yourself or your loved ones. In the case of Ur Khitan Mehret, there will be no problems finding a souvenir shop, as all the way from the pier to the monastery there are vendors with different goods. If you want to avoid communication with them and buy a souvenir only on the way back, then go to the monastery by trails through the forest, and not the main road, as traders in Ethiopia are very intrusive.
How to get there?
You can get to the peninsula of Zege by boat from Bahr Dar . The journey takes about an hour. From the pier to the monastery you need to walk along well-trodden paths. It is almost impossible to get lost here, since they all lead to Ur Khitan Mehret. The journey will take no more than 10 minutes.