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Zege kidane Meheret

Ethiopian Orthodox Church Murals on Historic Lake Tana Boat Trip

Aug 30, 2009 Kate Nivison

Beta Mariam, with its thatched roof and bright biblical murals, offers two accessiblity options for seeing Ethiopian Orthodox church murals and Lake Tana from Bahir Dar.

The shores and islands of Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia and source of the Blue Nile, are home to around two dozen world-famous Ethiopian Orthodox sites . Some of these churches and monasteries date back four centuries. Their inner walls are decorated to the rafters with fascinating religious scenes from the Old and New Testaments, with vividly imaginative exploits of their patron saints intermingled with demons, strange beasts and legendary heroes.

Murals like these, in a style once common in medieval Europe, are now rarely to found outside Ethiopia. The Beta Mariam site has a lively selection of murals but differs from the other churches in three respects:

• It is on the Zege peninsula at the south-western end of Lake Tana, rather than on an island.
• The roof is thatched, while most of the other churches have had their thatch replaced by modern metal sheets.
• The present structure dates only from the 19th century.

Consequently, Beta Mariam would not satisfy a true specialist looking for original 16th century Ethiopian religious art and construction, but its lively murals show how the tradition has continued until the present day.

Options for Getting to the Church of Beta Maryam

1. Most visitors prefer to take a boat trip (90 minutes one way) because this is also an opportunity to experience Lake Tana’s full scenic beauty and bird life.
2. Since Beta Mariam is on a peninsula, it can be reached by road. This could take 30 minutes to one hour, depending on the state of the road (generally poor), but it provides an option for bad sailors wanting to see a ‘lake church’, or when the weather is not suitable for a boat trip.

Arriving at Beta Mariam

From the boat, there is a wooden landing and a short walk through coffee and lemon groves. An entrance fee (around US$3) is collected and a priest who is agreeable to being photographed (but not touched) will accompany visitors. An English-speaking guide is also available if visitors arrive without one. The atmosphere is very courteous and calm – note the sign cautioning ‘No high laughing’.

Monasteries of Lake Tana >> Ura 

Ura Kidhane Mihret and the Zege Peninsula. The main attraction of Zege is, of course, the monasteries that dot the peninsula. From among the few medieval churches of the forested Peninsula, Ura Kidhane Mihret is certainly the most impressive of the southern monasteries and probably the most beautiful anywhere in the Tana region. This, combined with its relative proximity to Bahir Dar, has made it the most frequently visited church on the lake.

Set within uninviting stone walls, the monastery was founded in the 14th century, and the current church was built in the 16th century. The walls are covered in incredible 16th-century murals, many but not all of which have been restored in the last few decades. These paintings offer a genuinely revealing glimpse into medieval Ethiopia . There are also some intriguing line drawings on one of the doors, and the museum has a few old crowns of Ethiopian kings, leather-bound Bibles and other ancient treasures.

There is a flat but very rough road between Bahir Dar and Zege. This is often impassable (even with a 4×4 Land cruiser) mainly during the rainy season, but it’s normally fine for hardy cyclists and trekkers between mid-October and June, a two to three hour trip in either direction If you are visiting Ura from the Village of Zeghie on foot, it lies only 3km from the village and could therefore be visited as a round trip in 2-3 hours. The forest itself is one of the few large indigenous forests in this part of Ethiopia, and it makes an appealing change from the characteristic open grassland of the region. Wild coffee dominates the undergrowth, vervet monkeys shake the canopy, parrots screech and hornbills explode into cacophony, and colourful butterflies flutter at your feet. With glimpses of the lake to your right, this is a lovely walk, even if you prefer not to visit the monasteries.

Reachable from Ura Kidhane Mihret by boat, or by following a 2km footpath through thick forest, lie the disused Mehal Giorgis and Bet Maryam churches. Mehal Giorgis has some 18th-century murals on the standing walls. There are several antiquities locked away in Bet Maryam .Another interesting church on the peninsula is Azuwa Maryam, which lies closer to Ura Kidhane Mihret, and also boasts several worthwhile old paintings.

The most normal way to visit Ura Kidhane Mihret is by charter boat direct from Bahir Dar, which takes about an hour, terminating at a jetty 5-10 minutes easy walk from the monastery itself. 

© 2010, Prof. Muse Tegegne. All rights reserved. info@ethiopianism.net