Bastions of the cross : medieval rock-cut cruciform churches of Tigray, Ethiopia / Mikael Muehlbauer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Muehlbauer, Mikael, author.

Series:

Dumbarton Oaks studies ; 49.

Dumbarton Oaks studies ; XLIX

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Church architecture--Ethiopia--Tigray Region.

Church architecture.

Architecture, Byzantine--Ethiopia--Tigray Region.

Architecture, Byzantine.

Church buildings--Ethiopia--Tigray Region.

Church buildings.

Cave churches--Ethiopia--Tigray Region.

Cave churches.

Tigray Region (Ethiopia)--Antiquities.

Tigray Region (Ethiopia).

Antiquities.

Ethiopia--Tigray Region.

Physical Description:

xv, 239 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps, plans ; 29 cm.

Other Title:

Medieval rock-cut cruciform churches of Tigray, Ethiopia

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, [2023]

Summary:

"In the late eleventh century, Ethiopian masons hewed great cruciform churches out of mountains in the eastern highlands of Tigray, Ethiopia's northernmost province. Hitherto unparalleled in scale, these monuments were royal foundations, instruments of political centralization and re-Christianization that anticipated the great thirteenth-century churches at Lalibela. Bastions of the Cross, the first monograph devoted to the subject, examines the cruciform churches of Abreha wa-Atsbeha, Wuqro Cherqos, and Mika'el Amba and connects them to one of the great architectural movements of the Middle Ages: the millennial revival of the early Byzantine aisled, cruciform church. These were also the first to incorporate vaulting, and uniquely did so in the service of a centralized spatial hierarchy. It was through resuscitated pilgrimage networks that Ethiopian craftsmen revisited architectural types abandoned since Late Antiquity, while Islamic mercantile channels brought precious textiles from South Asia that inspired trans-material conceptions of architectural space. This study reveals the eleventh century, in contrast to its popular reputation as a "dark age," to be a forgotten watershed in the architectural history of Ethiopia and Eastern Christianity"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

Medieval architecture in Tigray, Ethiopia

Churches in the making

Inventing Late Antiquity in medieval Ethiopia

Medieval Ethiopia in the Indian Ocean world system

Conclusion: A local legacy.

Notes:

Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph.D.)--Columbia University, 2020.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-229) and index.

ISBN:

9780884024972

0884024970

OCLC:

1381094900

Publisher Number:

99995428039