Enda Mariam Cathedral () is an Eritrean Orthodox

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera (), is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region (Eritrea), Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the List of capital cities by altitude, sixth highest capital in the wo ...

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

. The cathedral is located on Arbate Asmara Street.

Name

In the

Tigrinya language Tigrinya, sometimes romanized as Tigrigna, is an Ethio-Semitic languages, Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic languages, Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is primarily spoken by the Tigrinya people, ...

''enda'' (እንዳ) means "the place of, the habitat of (an object, a person, etc)". Thus, when combined with another noun, indicates a structure associated with that other thing. Thus ''enda bani'' (bread) means a bakery, ''enda afras'' (horses) means a stable, ''enda dewel'' (bell) means a church tower or belfry, ''enda tseba'' (milk) means a dairy. ''Mariam'' (ማርያም) means Mary. The church is also called ''Kidisti Mariam'' (Saint Mary).

Description

The church (in a simple wooden structure) was present in Asmara since the late 19th century. In the early 1930s, the Italian governor of Asmara ordered to create an improved structure with modern building materials and under the supervision of Italian architects. In its present rationalist/modernist style, the church dates from 1938, when an unknown Italian architect, added the upper portions of the two flanking towers and the modernistic treatment of the façade to the 1920 form designed by Ernesto Gallo.Sean Anderson, ''Modern Architecture and its Representation in Colonial Eritrea: An In-visible Colony, 1890-1941'' (Routledge 2016), Illustration 2.34
Edward Denison, Edward Paice, ''Eritrea: The Bradt Travel Guide'' (Bradt Travel Guides 2007), p. 117
The 1920 form has also been attributed to Odoardo Cavagnari, who designed Asmara Theatre and Asmara's futuristic Fiat Tagliero service station, and who was Asmara's Chief of Public Works. Both the central block and the two large freestanding square towers that flank it are built in alternate layers of brick and stone, emulating the layers of wood and stone of Aksumite architecture, a technique that has been for centuries in use in the

Eritrean Highlands The Eritrean Highlands are a mountainous region in central Eritrea. Bordered to the south by the Mareb River, it is a northern continuation of the Ethiopian Highlands. The region has seen tremendous deforestation since the colonial period, wh ...

. The protruding wooden support beams in these structures have been named "monkey heads". EndaMariam1930

Earlier forms

In his account of the visit to Eritrea in 1891 by a Royal Commission sent by the Italian government, Ferdinando Martini, in line with his derogatory attitude towards all matters concerning the native "Abyssinians", described the then church at Asmara as less decent than the huts for hay in Italian farmyards. The illustrated fourth (1896) edition of his book includes a photograph of the church, some seven metres long, with traditional "monkey head" walls and a thatched roof whose projection beyond the walls was supported by rough poles. A 1922 photograph of the church and its two towers in their 1920 form shows that it then had no trace of more contemporary, European styles.

Other prominent religious buildings

It is one of three prominent religious landmarks in the city, the others being the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary and Kulafah Al Rashidan Great Mosque.

Annual feast

The church's Nigdet (religious feast) of Saint Mary is celebrated on 30 November (1 December if the following

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

year is a

leap year A leap year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year) is a calendar year that contains an additional day (or, in the case of a lunisolar calendar, a month) compared to a common year. The 366th day (or 13th month) is added to keep t ...

1909 gallery of the original (6th century) Axumite church

File:Coptic and faithful Orthodox priests facing the Axumite church Enda Mariam from the 6th century in Asmara (the photo was taken in 1909) 1.jpg, Coptic Orthodox priests and faithful facing the church File:Ancient Axumite church built in the 6th century here are the typical details of the Axumite buildings, basaltic stone bells still in use in many Eritrean churches, Coptic priest (the photo was taken in 1909) 2.jpg, Depiction of the typical details of the Axumite buildings, basaltic stone bells still in use in many Eritrean churches File:Axumite Church Enda mariam from 6th century in Asmara (the photo was taken in 1909) 3.jpg, File:Axumite Church Enda mariam from 6th century in Asmara (the photo was taken in 1909) 4.jpg, File:Axumite Church Enda mariam from 6th century in Asmara on the hill holy (the photo was taken in 1909) 5.jpg,

References

External links

{{Authority control Cathedrals in Asmara Eritrean Orthodox church buildings Oriental Orthodox cathedrals in Africa Modernist architecture in Eritrea Churches completed in 1938