Axum, home to the holiest church

Axum/ Aksum about 1060km from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s current metropolitan city or capital.

It’s about an hour and 20minutes flight between the two yet with an extremely rugged terrain, one would last two days on road, the reason most people prefer the domestic flight which costs about 180dollars (Shs648,000) for foreigners and locals.

A beautiful airport welcomes you to Aksum written Axum by ancient whites and Aksum locally. The kingdom of Aksum was the country's first civilisation and capital previously ruled by Aksumites.

Aksum was a great trade city exporting ivory and was among first cities to mint its own currency in bronze and gold coins.

The town currently is home to what Ethiopians believe to be the holiest of churches of the Orthodox Christians which is attended by most Ethiopians. The church is reason Ethiopians believe there is Jerusalem of Africa.

These believe that the Solomonic Kingdom was extended right from Israel to Ethiopia when Queen Sheebah who lived in Axum visited King Solomon.

While the Catholic bible says Queen Sheebah had only gone to test King Solomon's wisdom and riches, the teaching from the Aksum civilization is different. The teachings say Queen Sheeebah was deeply attracted to King Solomon and when she travelled to Israel, the two shared an intimate moment and Queen Sheebah was with child.

A son called Manelik was born and is believed to have extended the Solomonic rule from Israel to Jerusalem.

It’s further said that though the world thinks the original ark of the covenant of God was lost, Ethiopians teachings say King Solomon handed the ark of God to his Ethiopian son Manelik who returned to Aksum with it from a visit to his father. The well protected St Mary of Zion church is said to house the ark of God’s covenant.

In the same vicinity sits a monastery where orthodox monks spend their time in prayer and consecration from the secular life. Women are not allowed anywhere close to the monastery as a way of protecting the monks from temptations since they have decided to keep themselves pure.

The place is believed to be the holiest and the ark is believed to possess the same power of mercy and devastation as it did in the early bible times.

The Ethiopians believe it’s the ark that protected them from being colonised as all other African countries. These say the Italians with all their war artillery were defeated a few meters away from Axum when the king sought the power of the ark.

In the compound next to the monastery is another most recent replica of the St Mary church which was previously rebuilt after various destructions. Believers and visitors can access this one for prayers and tourism purposes.  The huge doom shaped church is beautiful scenery yet deeply holy. The orthodox women cover their heads and the men kiss the door beams as they enter while all shoes stay by the door as is with most churches in Ethiopia.

Away from the religious artifacts, at Axum also stands different monumental pillars with one towering above the rest in size and height at about 90feet above the ground. The stele erections were marks of underground graves. This particular cite marks a royal burial site.

On the ground were tall pillars marked with a moon shape at the top in respect of the god of the moon (Lunah) who the Ethiopians here worshipped.

From the bottom to the top are different levels of windows, these too had two shapes the moon shape and the cross. The windows were put on the pillars in anticipation that they would ease the deceased King’s reach to the gods in the afterlife.

A small entrance leads to underground where a corridor separates two burial chambers with five rooms on each side. On the right are rooms in which Aksumite kings were buried and on the left King’s treasures including gold and other diamonds were kept. Near the entrance lies a pillar that fell down covering the ground and is only being held together by reconstruction material.

Away from this is a house of the false tomb. This was used by the king to keep his treasures. The house had a misleading door to confuse any possible thief but on the inside was also a hidden right route leading to treasure point.

 

As you move between cites are young children and women begging either because they are needy or because they are certain to catch the sympathy of a new tourist every hour.

Aksum, not only a city of ancient civilization and architectural details but one of deep holiness and faith.