Yehunie Belay NEW CD COMING SOON!!! Guzara Palace The founding of Gondar is 1636 has been considered as the opening of a period in Ethiopian history. The new metropolis, with its renowned castles is contrasted with earlier “instant” or moving capitals, the existence of which had caused Ludolf in the late seventeenth century to assert that the Ethiopians had “neither castles nor forts” and wonder to hear “great cities” in Europe. The establishment of the ketema , or military headquarters of Gondar should, however, also be seen as the culmination of a process begun over half a century earlier when Emperor when Emperor Sarsa Dengel set up a ketema at Guba’e(north- east of lake Tana), also known as Enfranz. The Emperor Sarsa Dengel set up Lake Tana), also known as Enfranz. The Emperor Sarsa Dengel, Who he built the palace of Guzara, still standing, the architecture of which was clearly taken for the first of the Gonderain castles. Enfranz or Guzara, the first of the more important imperial camps in Dambeya was situated in mountainous country overlooking the north-eastern shore of Lake Tana. This part of the highlands acquired political significance when Emperor Sersa Dengel spent the first rainy season of his rule there in 1563. The Emperor who reigned his country from 1563 to 1597 GC. Some scholars consider him as the founder of the Gonderain line dynasty. The castle at Guzara is of considerable historical interest in that it was built in style which is almost identical to that of the first of the Gondar castles erected a little/// over half a century later. The similarities inform and design is needed such as to suggest that the edifice at Guzara must have served as a model for earliest buildings at Gondar. The process of urbanization characterized by the rise of Enfranz continued until the establishment of Gondar which can thus be viewed as the culmination of earlier developments. The name Guzara, according to sources referred to Guba’e literally “Assembly” or “reunion”( conference together), a name conceivably given to it because he and his followers gathered there, in addition to Guba’e at which point the chronicle speaks of Guba’e as a place “chosen among all the covenants of Enfranz” and significantly enough, as the location of the Serha Mengest, or royal palace. Another, and at the time almost certainly unique, feature at Guzara was a stone bridge or gobatiet bridge. Perhaps the first to be constructed in this part of Ethiopia, it spanned Garno river. On what was apparently the main road to the palace. This bridge consisted of a single broad arch and was solidly built that it is still standing over four hundred years later. Source - Richard Pankhurst, An Introduction to the economic History of Ethiopia (London, 1961)
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 16:07:04 +0000
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