Debre Damo Monastery

Debre Damo church, which is called after Abune Aregawi, is built in Axumite style. The beams and ceiling of the ancient church, around which the monastry is built, are beautifully decorated with carved wooden panels depicting lion, elephant, rhinoceros, snakes, gazelle, antelope, giraffe and camels. Although there are no murals as such, a large number of paintings are preserved there, including several that depict the legend of the foundation of Debre Damo by Abune Aregawi.

Aksum

Aksum, believed to be founded in the 2nd century B.C, was once the capital city of one of the world's four superpowers. One text is reported to have labeled Aksum as ''the royal throne of the king of Zion, mother of all lands, pride of the entire universe, jewel of kings.''

The famous Queen Sheba was one of Aksum's famous rulers. Today, in the remains of the Queen's palace, one can see, amongst others, the bathing rooms, a throne room and a large kitchen of brick ovens. The New Testament states that the Abyssinian Queen ''came from the ends of the earth to hear the Wisdom of Solomon.'' Makeda, as the queen is known in her home country, conceived a son with King Solomon. Menelik I, one of the first Ethiopian Kings, was the product of that relationship. Legend has it that Menelik I, founder of the Solomonic Dynasty, traveled to Jerusalem to visit his father. Upon his return, he secretly brought the original Ark of the Covenant to Aksum. Early biblical teachings confer that God inscribed the Ten Commandments upon two stone tablets, and gave them to the Prophet Moses who placed them in the Ark. Since Menelik's time, Ethiopia has explicitly and consistently made it clear to the world that the ark peacefully rests in "the sacred city of the Ethiopians." However, it took the civilized world at least thirty centuries to reluctantly acknowledge the claim of the Ethiopians as the true guardians of the Ark of the Covenant of God.