St Mary of Zion Aksum

We flew to Axum which is basically northern most point in Ethiopia that is geared towards tourists. It is quite close to both Sudan and Eritrea, but the border crossing are not great, so it is not a popular point to move onto those places. From this point, we have roughly 10 days to work towards Addis Ababa to fly out to our next destination of …

It's now 6:00AM and the air is cool - I am awakening by the chanting from Lalibela's Churches. I see a cluster of people in white as I peer through the windows. The landscape is peaceful. The mood is very spiritual. Ethiopians are very religious people.

It's now 7:30AM - I am on the bus heading for Axum (Aksum). I cannot help but notice …

... on our whirlwind tour of Aksum (good thing all of the sites are in fairly close proximity), we then went to St. Mary of Zion Church, conveniently located across from the Northern Stelae field. Though we couldn't access the old church (men only) which ...

... of people.   During the afternoon, we visited Queen Sheba’s Palace (more likely to be the mansion of a noble) and St. Mary of Zion Churches. Following a monks’ refusal to allow entry to the wife of Haile Selassie, the last ...

... be moved by the spiritual fervor of the people in and around Axum.   After my visit to the Church of St. Mary of Zion, I went to the Commercial Bank to exchange some traveler’s cheques.  Usually a painless process in other parts of ...

... food at 'Traditional Restaurant' beside the Ethiopian Airlines office. Met Solomon outside the entrance to the compound of the St. Mary of Zion Churches, Ethiopia's holiest shrine.  The church was built in 1959 as the original was burnt down by ...

... time are thus all descended from Solomon. The original Ark of the Covenant is said to be in safekeeping at the Church of St. Mary of Zion in Axum. The original St. Marys was built in the 4th century and was one of the largest churches in the ...

There is a buzz around Axum that you can feel – this weekend is the largest holiday in Axum: the Feast of St. Mary of Zion. The focus on this holiday is the Cathedral of Tsion Maryam founded in the 4th century, home of Ethiopian Orthodox ...

... of these 500 tonn amazing stelae had since fallen and really makes a stunning site to see. A visit to the Aksum museum, the St Mary of Zion church and the ruins of Queen Sheba's palace completed our tour of all the historical sites in Aksum. The cente ...

... a number of giant monoliths, was very interesting as well as the many underground chambers.  I also visited the St. Mary of Zion church complex.  One of the small chapels there is said to contain the Ark of the Covenant, although no ...

... best hotel (Remhai) which has a swimming pool. Axum does have a lot of historical sights, one of them being the church of St Mary of Zion where according to legend (and all Ethiopians) the Ark of the Covenant is housed. We saw the large obelisk that had ...

... the stone, the lion’s image was left on the rock. However, Axum’s greatest claim to fame in Ethiopia is the holy Church of St. Mary of Zion, where it is believed the Ark of the Covenant is kept.  It is the holiest site in Ethiopia for ...