April 15 - King Fasil built this structure as a second residence a mile from his castle. The pool is 2,800 square meters and is still the central stage for Timkat, or Epiphany Festival (when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River), every year. The pool is dry most of the year, but for Timkat, water is diverted from a nearby river to fill it. It takes 6 days to fill! If you're interested, search "Timkat in Gondar" on YouTube for videos of recent celebrations.
A stone bridge connects the grounds to the residence.
This is the back side of the structure as seen from the crude bleachers built to accommodate a small portion of the huge crowd during Timkat. When the pool is filled, the residence is thought to resemble Noah's Ark floating on water.
Enormous banyan fig trees surround the compound. As the trees grow, they envelop the adjacent stone wall. This makes for unique formations.
This tree is growing inside and outside the 15' high wall.
No comments:
Post a Comment