St Mary of Zion

Obelisk Park Queen of Sheba St Mary of Zion

St Mary of Zion

 

church where the ark of the covenant is believed to be housed

Aksum has long been regarded a holy city for the Ethiopian Orthodox church. It forms the setting of the 14th-century work Kebra Negast (“Glory of the Kings”), which relates the tradition of the transference of the Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to Aksum by King Menilek I, legendary son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (Makeda). According to tradition, the Church of St. Mary of Zion contains the Ark of the Covenant. Over the centuries, however, the church has been destroyed and rebuilt several times; the present structure dates from the 17th century. Emperor Haile Selassie I built the new Church of St. Mary of Zion near the old one in 1965.

Text from Encyclopedia Britannica

 

seen only by the caretaker

 

reading scripture in front of the church

 

 

 


Treasures of the old church

 

cross and drum used in religious ceremonies

 

an elaborate Ethiopian Coptic cross

 

 

religious crowns

 

keeper of the treasures

 

the caretaker holding a cross


the church of St. Mary of Zion

 

 

 

stairs to the church

 

building next to church entrance where often manuscripts were stored

 

 

remnant of an older carved stone

Other Photos of the Obelisk fragments

 

side of the church

 

opposite side

 

guide pointing out the ceremonial significance of the two holes

 

older building in the religious complex

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Obelisk Park Queen of Sheba St Mary of Zion

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