The Castles Of Fasil Ghebbi, Ethiopia (Part 1)
Fasil Ghebbi is a large royal compound located in the heart of Gondar City in Northern Ethiopia. Gondar is a short domestic flight from the modern capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. It contains several buildings built over the course of the 16th-17th Century Solomonic dynasty. Gondar was the capital of Ethiopia during this time, having been moved from Lalibela.
Many of the buildings are in ruin, but some of the major ones have been preserved and/or restored. These buildings are a testament to the sophistication of the Ethiopian empire during this age. Between this site and the rock-hewn churches in Lalibela, it's difficult for me to decide which one I like more. As far as richness in history is concerned, northern Ethiopia is ranked my second favorite to Giza, Egypt, among the locations in Africa I have visited.
1. Fasilides' Castle is the largest and most impressive castle on the compound, and the original castle of emperor Fasilides himself. The castle looks like it has been transplanted from medieval Europe, and the compound is often referred to as the 'Camelot of Africa'. The weather for my visit ranged from overcast, to occasional cloud breaks, to heavy downpours.
2: Scaffolding supports the wooden decks during restoration activities. Fasil Ghebbi is a UNESCO world heritage site, and receives funding for preservation activities.
3: The view from the doorway of Fasilides' Castle looking out towards the Royal Archive and Royal Library.
4: A view of one of the largest rooms within Fasilides' Castle. The ceiling was recently restored with new timber.
5: One of the only examples of the original timber ceiling beams is located within one of the small chambers.
6: If you look closely, you can see some of the original artwork that once decorated the interior of the castle. The artwork of this room is well-protected from the elements due to its position in the interior of the castle.
7: There are a few fireplaces such as this one installed throughout the castle. The city of Gondar is located at over 2000 meters in elevation, so it can get quite cold at night during the rainy season. It wasn't clear from viewing the exterior of the building how or if the smoke escaped, though the ceilings of the castle were very high.
8: Fasilides' Castle has an innovative water drainage and collection system. Water landing on the rooftop of the castle is directed to two channels. These channels combine together and then flow to a nearby cistern where it is collected for later use.
9: The cistern of Fasilides' Castle where water from the nearby castle is collected. It even contains stairs, so that water can be efficiently collected when the water level is low.
10: A view of the rear of Fasilides' Castle. On the left is a partial wall that looks to be the remains of an outbuilding. For being the oldest castle on the compound, it's in beautiful condition. Despite the cloud cover, I was still facing the sun, so it was difficult to get as clear of a photo as I would have liked from this angle.
Thanks for dropping by! In part 2 we will continue to explore Fasil Ghebbi and its historical buildings. I hope that you enjoyed my travel photos and commentary, and will return for more travel content in the future.
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Great story with good points of view...
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When we returned from South Africa (where I to my both my daughter's annoyance had talked to all the taxi drivers asking them about where they came from (they were all migrants)) we took a cap in the airport in Copenhagen and this time I only chatted with the driver. None less he told us that he was from Ethiopia :) During the talk about South Africa he said this: "It is because black people are lazy and don't want to work!" Slightly funny considering that he was just as black as the people in South Africa, but it goes to show how strong a culture these East African nations have. They really think of themselves as something special jst like Europeans, Persians, Chinese and Indians.
Great photos!
Many people see Africa the continent as an amalgam of peoples, and nothing can be further from the truth. This is partly because western culture has painted them that way. It is diverse in so many ways, and currently hosts some of the fastest growing economies.
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In School I once had a teacher who showed us how westernocentric we were and after that I put some efforts into geography and history of the places I didn't know. That has really been a great investment. People really like that you have a general idea about their home country - if can name the language(s) that are spoken it's even better.
One of my funniest projects here on Steemit was to make pulp fiction illustrations to this young Nigerian (Igbo) bloke's short stories. Here's illustrations for the first part
You know God created man equally in his own image so that whter blak or white, europian or African, .......no difference. we all are especial but Ethiopia is different.
when i say Ethiopia is, i mean we have many unique things. we use our own time and calendar, our own words, we are land of origin (source of man kind), ancient civilized nation more than 3000 years of history, never colonized, warrior (defeated Italian in 1888), full of historical and cultural treasure so that one of the best tourist destiny, the only nation which has thirteen months of a year...........manay many many more................
thanks a lot @kathrsisdrill and also @joshman
Yes :) Ethiopian culture is really special in so many ways!
Ethiopia looks so interesting, I did not realise they had such old castles up there @joshman restoration on these heritage sites so worth while for future generations to see.
Fasilides' Castle is actually a large, much more impressive than I would have thought would have imagined in Africa, thanks for most interesting trip.
Thanks, I didn't realise it either until I looked into travelling there.
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Thats a beautiful old castle ! .. to be honest, I did not think that they are such castles there in ethiopia .. although they are quite new from the 17th century compared to the european ones .. I am already exited to see more of those ^^
Thanks, Ethiopia is a unique place.
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wonderful post. if u want to learn more, please refer comment which i made under your post @ katharsisdrill. but i have 1 question to you; how did you make this post? i mean as visitor or as Ethiopian?
As a visitor. I've spent a great deal of time in Addis, but this was my first time visiting the north. I also wanted to see Aksum, but ran out of time. The history of Ethiopia is great, especially its ties to Judeo-Christian history. It's truly a unique place within Africa.
I'm assuming you are from Ethiopia?!
sure i'am Ethiopian. we have many historical places like castel of Fasile, Axum, Lalibela ....
if you have time, I also recommend you to visit lalibela in your way to Axum.
if you get the chance to come again back to ETH, also come to the southern part, you will see many wonders.
thanks a lot. by the way how is new year? 2012......
Very cool. I'm glad Ethiopia has some representation on STEEM. I'd love to visit Axum, and the south eventually. I have some previous posts about Lalibela if you are interested, along with some other posts from Addis.
2012 is great, I feel so much younger when I'm in Ethiopia! :-)
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Hello @joshman, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!