Fasil Ghebbi
EthiopiaWestern Highlands & Great Rift ValleyGondarDetails
Fasil Ghebbi
This area is located in the Amhara National Regional State of Ethiopia's Federal Democratic Republic, in the North Gondar Administrative Zone. The serial property consists of eight components. Emperor Fasilidas' Castle, Emperor Iyasu's Castle, Tzadich Yohannes' Library, Tzadich Yohannes' Chancellery, Emperor David's Castle, Mentuab's Palace, and Emperor Bekaffa's Banqueting Hall are all located within the Fasil Ghebbi palace grounds.
The remaining seven components are located in and around the city of Gondar: the Debre Berhan Selassie (Monastery and church); the Bath of Fasilidas; Kiddush Yohannes; Qusquam (Monastery and Church); Thermal Area; the Sosinios (also known as Maryam Ghemb); the Gorgora (Monastery and Church) and the Palace of Guzara.
Ethiopian rulers regularly relocated their royal encampment between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. In 1636, King Fasil (Fasilidas) settled in Gondar and made it his permanent capital. The royal court had evolved from a camp into a fortified compound named Fasil Ghebbi, which consisted of six principal building complexes and smaller minor buildings, enclosed by a 900-meter-long wall with twelve entrances and three bridges, before its demise in the late eighteenth century.
Until 1864, the fortress city served as the seat of Ethiopian government. Twenty palaces, royal buildings, ornately decorated churches, monasteries, and other unique public and private structures have been altered by the Baroque style introduced to Gondar by the Jesuit missionaries.
Huge towers and overhanging battlemented walls characterize the main castle, which looks like a piece of medieval Europe transplanted to Ethiopia. A two-story pavilion of a bathing palace associated with Emperor Fasilidas is located beyond the city's bounds to the north-west by the Qaha River. The construction is a two-story battlemented structure that sits within and on one side of a rectangular pool of water fed by a canal from a neighboring river.
The bathing pavilion is built on pier arches and has many rooms connected by a stone bridge that can be raised for defense. Following monarchs, such as Iyasu the Great, continued to develop, perfecting the techniques and architectural style, and expanding the city to the hills north-west of the city center, in the Qusquam area.
Fasil Ghebbi and the other Gondar city ruins show a fascinating interface between internal and foreign civilizations, with cultural aspects associated to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Ethiopian Jews, and Ethiopian Muslims. This connection is reflected in the handicrafts, painting, literature, and music that flourished in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as the architecture of the places.
This connection is reflected in the handicrafts, painting, literature, and music that flourished in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as the architecture of the places.
Fasil Ghebbi, Gondar Region was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.
(Source UNESCO)
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- EthiopiaWestern Highlands & Great Rift ValleyGondar