The Church of Debre Berhan Selassie — "Trinity at the Mountain of Light" — is the most celebrated example of Gondarene ecclesiastical painting and one of the most beautiful interiors in Ethiopia. Built in the late 17th century under Emperor Iyasu I and reconstructed after an earlier church on the site was destroyed by lightning, it sits in a walled compound about 1.5km northeast of the Royal Enclosure.
The exterior is modest: a rectangular building enclosed by a wall studded with ostrich eggs (a traditional purifier of holy spaces). Inside, every surface is covered in murals. The famous ceiling is lined with row upon row of painted angel faces — cherubs with large eyes and dark ringlets, their wings filling the spaces between them — giving the effect of being watched from above by an infinite congregation. The walls are equally dense with narrative scenes from the Old and New Testaments, lives of saints, and the life of the Virgin Mary.
The church is still an active place of worship. Remove shoes before entering and dress modestly.
story: > When the army of the Sudanese Mahdi sacked and burned much of Gondar in 1888, the soldiers approached Debre Berhan Selassie with torches. According to local tradition, a swarm of bees erupted from the walls and drove the attackers away. The church was the only one in Gondar to survive the raid intact.