Abraha We Atsbeha
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Abraha We Atsbeha

Cut from a single mountain rock between 335 and 340 AD by the two famous twin-brothers kings Ezana and Sayzana, later on, named Abraha and Atsbeha, this is one of the several hundreds of important rock churches in Tigrai.

Includes
  • Carved entirely out of a protruded sedimentary rock recessed into a continuous chain of mountains, Abraha We Atsbeha is one of the finest of rock churches in Tigrai. It is easily accessible on the main asphalt road 16km Wuqro to Gheralta. The church has a massive cruciform interior, perhaps the largest of the region’s rock-cut churches, and an elaborately carved roof supported by thick pillars and decorated arches.
  • It was excavated between 335 and 340 AD by the two twin-brothers kings Ezana and Sayzana, later on, named Abraha and Atsbeha, whose mother is from the area. Centuries later after it was carved and put into active religious service, it was attacked by Queen Yodit, who took ill immediately on entering, only to be swept to her death by a heavenly gale that landed her body on the outskirts of Wukro at a place known as Adi Akawuh, now an active archaeological site.
  • Ezana the great of Axum, One of the two powerful brothers, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Aksum an ancient kingdom centered in what is now Tigrai, ruled present-day Eritrea and Ethiopia as far as Yemen and part of Suda. King Ezana became the first King in Africa to receive Christianity and made his Kingdom the first Christian Kingdom on the continent. He minted coins with the sign of the cross on them so as to spread his religion throughout his Kingdom and neighboring kingdoms and trading partners
  • The church’s claim to antiquity is enhanced by multiple ancient artifacts in the adjoining museum. The mummified bodies of the two brother-kings are interred within the Holy of Holies in this church and the religious servants and local guides narrate that the last priest who tried to open the coffin to take a peek inside had his hands badly burnt by supernatural fire, dissuading further clerical curiosity-seekers from following his example.
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