Wukro - Wukro

Wukro Chirkos
Wukro · Wuqro ·ውቕሮ
regionTigray
Residents
45.200 (2015)
height
1,972 m
Tourist information Tel 251 (0)34 440 1031
no tourist info on Wikidata: Add tourist information
location
Location map of Ethiopia
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Wukro

Wukro or Wuqro, Wikro or similar, tigrin: ውቕሮ, Wuqro, is a city in the east of the northern ethiopian Tigray region on the Genfel river. The city is for its rock church Wukro Chirkos known and can also be used as a starting point to other rock churches in the area. The church with its design is one of the few of its kind in Ethiopia. With the only opened in 2015 archaeological museum With finds from the Ethio-Sabaean period, the city has another important sight.

background

Map of Wukro

Location and name

Wukro is located 829 kilometers by road north of Addis Ababa in the east of the Tigray region. The city is located between 70 kilometers of road to the north 1 AdigratAdigrat in the travel guide Wikivoyage in another languageAdigrat in the Wikipedia encyclopediaAdigrat in the media directory Wikimedia CommonsAdigrat (Q357101) in the Wikidata database and the 45 km south-southwest capital of the Tigray, 2 MekeleMekele in the Wikipedia encyclopediaMek’ele in the media directory Wikimedia CommonsMek’ele (Q332319) in the Wikidata database.

Your current name Wukro the city only received in the early 20th century. It was previously called Dengolo / Dongolo, amharic: ዶንጎሎ. The 2007 census found the city to have 30,210 residents, 83% of whom were Christians and 7% Muslim. For 2015, 45,200 inhabitants were forecast.

history

Only a few testimonies are available about the place and the neighboring rock church. The first well-known event is the construction of the rock church Wukro Chirkos, which took place around the 10th-12th centuries. Century, at the time of Zagwe dynasty, dated. It was the first rock church that became known beyond the borders of Ethiopia because it is easily accessible in the immediate vicinity of an important route. It was probably about the same time as the churches of the same kind 1 Abreha we AtsbehaAbreha we Atsbeha in the media directory Wikimedia CommonsAbreha we Atsbeha (Q97419927) in the Wikidata database between Wukro and 3 HawzienHawzien in the travel guide Wikivoyage in a different languageHawzien in the Wikipedia encyclopediaHawzien in the media directory Wikimedia CommonsHawzien (Q3128788) in the Wikidata database and 2 Mikael Emba 25 kilometers east-northeast of 4 Agula built[1] and has the simplest structure of the churches mentioned.

The earliest information about the local rock church comes from the Portuguese Missonar Francisco Álvares (* around 1465; † around 1540), who has been since 1520 stayed in Ethiopia for six years as part of a Portuguese embassy. His work "Verdadeira Informação das Terras do Preste João das Indias“ („Truthful report from the kingdom of the priest John of India“) Also contains a short, unfortunately only imprecise, description of the Church of Our Lady in Agro, which was completely carved out of the rock and which he visited between August 9 and 13, 1520.[2]

In February 1868 defeated an army sent by the British government in 1867 under the command of Lieutenant General Robert Napier (1810–1890), officer in the British Indian Army, on their punitive expedition against the Ethiopian emperor Theodore II (also Tewodros II., 1818–1868, reign 1855–1868) set up camp.[3] The expedition was accompanied by several war correspondents, embedded journalists and scientists. Contemporary reports from this expedition include from the British, for the default working journalists George Alfred Henty (1832–1902)[4] and from German travelers to Africa Gerhard Rohlfs (1831–1896)[5] who also mention the rock church. This was preceded by Theodors II's request for help to Great Britain to help him fight the Ottoman-Egyptian invasion, but this was ignored. As a result, the emperor left around 60 Europeans, including the British consul in 1864 Charles Cameron (1825-1870) and a British envoy in 1866, as hostages in his mountain fortress in Magdala, nowadays Amba Mariam called, imprison. For this reason, the British government decided on August 13, 1867 to end the hostage drama by force. On April 13, 1868 the fortress was in Magdala stormed, and on the same day, before the conquest of Magdala, Theodore II committed suicide. The most important local supporter of the expedition was the Tigrin prince Sebagadis cash desk, the later Ethiopian emperor Yohannes IV

1938 an Italian colonial force occupied the place and built the village among other things. with a hotel, a car repair shop, post office, telegraph station and infirmary. In the same year the place had 368 inhabitants, including 78 Italians.[6] Francesco Baldassare had a mill built here in 1938, but it was destroyed when the Italians withdrew in 1941.[7] Many buildings from this period still exist.

The place served 1943 as headquarters during the Woyane uprising under Blatta Haile Mariam Redda against Kaiser Haile Selassiewho was struck down with the help of the British Royal Air Force.[7][8] On October 17, 1943, the city was retaken by government troops.[9]

Dawit Wolde Giorgis reported in his memoir that the Israeli secret service 1964 a secret base outside the village for the training of members of the South Sudanese rebel organization Anya-nya (Anyanya) engaged in guerrilla warfare.[10][7] During the Ethiopian Civil War, the city was 1988 several times by the air forces of the The GRegime under Mengistu Haile Mariam bombed, killing 175 residents.[11]

getting there

In the street

The city is located on the Ethiopian trunk road 2 from Asmara to Addis Ababa.

By bus

Buses between Adigrat and Mekele happen to Wukro. The 1 Bus station in Wukro is to the west of the trunk road. From Wukro there are daily buses to Adigrat (70 kilometers), Aksum (160 kilometers) and Mek’ele (45 kilometers).

mobility

Due to its small size, Wukro can be explored on foot. Most of the facilities are located directly on the A2 trunk road, which is also the main road here and runs from north to south. There is a roughly in the city center 2 Roundabout with a war memorial in the center.

Tourist Attractions

Wukro Chirkos

  • 3  Wukro Chirkos (ውቕሮ ቅዱስ ቂርቆስ ገዳም). Wukro Chirkos in the Wikipedia encyclopediaWukro Chirkos in the media directory Wikimedia CommonsWukro Chirkos (Q16903774) in the Wikidata database.This church, located on a hill only about 500 meters northeast of the city, is the most easily accessible rock church in Ethiopia. The crypt church with the floor plan in the form of a half cross was probably built in the 10th – 12th centuries. Century and was carved out of a sandstone outcrop and measures 24 meters from west to east. The church is no longer completely preserved: the destroyed upper third was bricked up at a later time and provided with blind windows. There is a cemetery in the vicinity of the church.Open: daily 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., except Sun mornings and church celebrations.(13 ° 48 ′ 7 ″ N.39 ° 36 ′ 16 ″ E)
You enter the church to the west via a staircase and through a modern steel door that replaces an earlier wooden door, and you reach the narthex, the anteroom, of the church, which is supported by a central pillar. The adjoining church space of the cross basilica is divided into three naves by five pillars or half pillars. The half pillars at the entrance to the church are decorated with a cross. The vaulted central nave and the central transept form a cross in which Crossing field a relief cross was released. Two further pillars in each of the side aisles support the transept. The end of the church space is formed by three holy places for the Archangel Gabriel on the left, St. Chirkos (Cherkos, Čerqos, Kirkos, Qirqos) in the middle and the Archangel Michael on the right. In the one in front of it yoke in front of the central sanctuary there is a dome in the ceiling. Holy of Holies of St. Chirkos is the only one with an apse.
The narthex and the church interior still have decorative remains. The ceiling, walls and arches are decorated with cross and geometric patterns. In a further phase in the 15th century at the latest, the walls and ceilings of the anteroom were covered with frescoes of various saints. Remnants of inscriptions still mention the names of four of the nine saints: Pantalewon, Aragawi, Yemata and Garima. These missionary monks, venerated as saints, came from Syria, Constantinople, Anatolia and Rome,[8] came to Ethiopia in the 5th century and, by founding monasteries, brought about a strengthening of Christianity in Ethiopia.

  • Side view of the Wukro Chirkos church

  • Decoration in the crossing

  • Frescoes of saints

  • Half pillar with decoration

museum

  • 4  Wukro Archaeological Museum (ቤተመዘክር አርኪኦሎጂ ውቕሮ). Tel.: 251 (0)34 440 9360. Archaeological Museum Wukro in the media directory Wikimedia CommonsWukro Archaeological Museum (Q97009741) in the Wikidata database.The one built with German support by the Nedelykov Moreira Architects planned and opened in October 2015[12] mainly provides finds such as religious artifacts such as miniature shrines and everyday objects such as ceramics and glass from archaeological excavations by German and Ethiopian archaeologists in 2007, which come from the vicinity of Wukro and mainly in the Daʿamat-Culture in the 7th and 6th centuries BC by Sabaean Immigrants have been coined to date. The museum, in the middle of which is an open courtyard, includes an event area, a museum shop and a café. The tourist information office is also located in the building complex.Open: Tue-Sat 9 a.m.-12.30 p.m., 2 p.m.-4.30 p.m.Price: around 100 birr.(13 ° 47 '23 "N.39 ° 36 '38 "E.)
The exhibits still include building fragments, a headless female figure with a base inscribed in Sabaean and the limestone sacrificial altar from the Cella of ʾAlmaqahTemple in Mäqabər Gaʿəwa, one kilometer north of ʿAddi ʾAkawəḥ in the south of Wukro. This roughly square altar, about 90 centimeters wide, has a sacrificial platform, a bull-headed outlet, a drainage channel with a collecting basin and a Sabaean inscription on all four sides on the upper edge, which was also the religious and administrative center of the time Yeha names: “(A) Waʿrān, the king who overthrows (the enemy), son of Rādiʾum and the Šaḫḫatum, the consort in, (B) rebuilt the ʾAlmaqah (this altar) when he became lord of Temple of ʾAlmaqah in Yaḥaʾ, (C) by order of ʿAthtar and of the ʾAlmaqah and the ḏāt Ḥamyim and the ḏāt (D) Baʿdān [probably two appearances of the sun goddess]. "[13] A 75 centimeter wide limestone cube bears the two-line, approximately simultaneous Sabaean dedication inscription of the stonemason Ḫayrhumū: “(1) On the instructions of (king) Waʿrān, Ḫayrhumū, the stonecutter, (2) of the clan Ḫaḍʿān dedicated this wall to ʾAlmaqah . "[13]

  • Sacrificial altar from the ʾAlmaqah temple in ʿAddi ʾAkawəḥ

  • West side of the sacrificial altar

  • Perfume bottle with double face, Maryam Anza

Other churches

There are still several modern churches in the city itself.

mosque

activities

shop

kitchen

There are numerous restaurants in the village, mainly on the main road A2.

nightlife

accommodation

There are numerous pensions and hotels in the village, mainly on the main road A2.

health

Practical advice

Tourist information

  • Wukro Tigrai Tourism Office (in the archaeological museum). Tel.: 251 (0)34 440 1031.

Banks

post

Gas stations

trips

  • Adigrat, 70 kilometers north of Wukro, town with two fortresses, the Golgolta Medhanialem Church and a local market.
  • On the way to Hawzien you can see the church Abreha we Atsbeha and the 9 Rock-hewn churches of Gheralta visit.
  • The town Aksum with its significant archaeological remains is located northwest of Wokro and can be reached via Adigrat after 160 kilometers by road.
  • Mäqabər Gaʿəwa north of ʿAddi Akawəḥ is an archaeological site in the south of Wukro with the remains of a Sabaean ʾAlmaqah temple. The finds are now in the Wukro Museum.
  • The Mikael Emba church (Imba / Amba) can be reached via the Agula, about twelve kilometers south of Wukro, where the church can be reached after another 25 kilometers. From the car park of the church, a five-minute walk leads to the vicinity of the church, which can be reached via a staircase and then a ladder.
  • Mekele, 45 kilometers south-southwest of Wukro, the capital of Tigray with the palace of Emperor Yohannes IV.

literature

  • Gerster, Georg: Churches in the Rock: Discoveries in Ethiopia. Zurich: Atlantis-Verl., 1972 (2nd edition), ISBN 978-3-7611-0389-0 , Pp. 131-132, panels 179-181.
  • Mordini, Antonio: La chiesa ipogea di Ucrò (Ambà Seneiti) nel Tigrai. In:Gli annali dell’Africa Italiana, Vol.2,2 (1939), Pp. 517-526.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑Beatrice Playne was the first to recognize the connection between these three churches: Playne, Beatrice: St. George for Ethiopia. London: Constable, 1954, Pp. 83-84.
  2. ↑Álvares, Francisco: Brief and warranted description of all thorough knowledge of the lands of the mighty king in Ethiopia, whom we call Priest John: Also of his spiritual and secular regiment .... Egg life: Brighter, 1567, P. 172 f. (44th chapter).
  3. ↑Matthies, Volker: Magdala Company: Punitive expedition to Ethiopia. Berlin: Left, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-572-0 .
  4. ↑Henty, G [eorge] A [lfred]: The march to Magdala. London: Tinsley, 1868. The stay in Dongolo on February 26, 1868 is briefly mentioned on page 255.
  5. ↑Rohlfs, Gerhard: On behalf of Sr. Majesty the King of Prussia with the English expedition corps in Abyssinia. Bremen: Kühtmann, 1869, Pp. 68-70, 186 (Dongolo, February 6, 1868).
  6. ↑Consociazione turistica Italiana: Guida dell’Africa Orientale Italiana. Milano, 1938, P. 300.
  7. ↑ 7,07,17,2Lindahl, Bernhard: Local history of Ethiopia : Wib Hamer - Wyndlawn. Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute, 2005, Pp. 3-7. Internet publication.
  8. ↑ 8,08,1Henze, Paul B.: Layers of time: a history of Ethiopia. London: Hurst & Company, 2000, ISBN 978-1-85065-393-6 , Pp. 250-251 (Woyane Uprising), 38 (Nine Saints).
  9. ↑Gilkes, Patrick: The dying lion: feudalism and modernization in Ethiopia. London: Friedmann, 1975, ISBN 978-0-904014-07-5 , P. 180.
  10. ↑Giorgis, Dawit Wolde: Red tears: war, famine and revolution in Ethiopia. Trenton, NJ: The Red Sea Press, 1989, ISBN 978-0-932415-34-9 (Hardcover), ISBN 978-0-932415-35-6 (Paperback), p. 8.
  11. ↑Africa Watch, Ethiopia: "Mengistu has decided to Burn Us like Wood": Bombing of Civilians and Civilian Targets by the Air Force. In:Human Rights Watch, Tuesday July 24, 1990, P. 10, PDF.
  12. ↑New archaeological museum opened in Ethiopia with German support. In:International cooperation, Tuesday October 20, 2015, accessed on July 6, 2020. — Development of the museum project Wukro up to the opening in 2015. In:Society for the Promotion of Museums in Ethiopia V., accessed on July 6, 2020.
  13. ↑ 13,013,1Nebes, Norbert: The inscriptions from the ʾAlmaqah temple in ʿAddi ʾAkawəḥ (Tigray). In:Journal of Oriental Archeology (ZOrA), ISBN 978-3-11-022314-9 , ISSN1868-9078, Vol.3 (2010), Pp. 214-237. — Gajda, Iwona; Gebre Selassie, Yohannes; Hiluf, Berhe: Pre-Aksumite Inscriptions from Mäqabər Gaʿəwa (Tigrai, Ethiopia). In:Annales d'Éthiopie, Vol.24 (2009), Pp. 33-48.
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