Gondar castle in the fortress city of Fasil Ghebbi indeed evokes legends of yore. This shouldn’t be such a surprise given the Great Mosque of Djenné and Africa’s other architectural wonders, but I find the evocation of medieval Europe astonishing, perhaps more so because as Ethiopians will tell you, theirs is one of only two African countries that were never colonised (the other being Liberia).

So, how did this unlikely structure come about? As with many things, its provenance lies in religion.

Religion in Ethiopia stretches back thousands of years. In fact, Ethiopia was only the second nation, after Armenia, to adopt Christianity as its state religion (in around 330 AD).

In c.1622, Ethiopian Emperor Susenyos I converted to the Roman Catholic faith under the influence of Portuguese missionaries, prompting years of rebellion. His son, Fasiladas, usurped his rule in 1632 and proceeded to restore the traditional Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Exploring Gondar castle in the ‘Camelot of Africa’