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Next Society Event: 16th Sep 2008 - Lecture - The Painting of the History and Legend of King Lalibela - Gerald Gotzen
7:00pm, Room B102 (Brunei Building), SOAS - Public lecture (all welcome)
Famous throughout Ethiopia is the story of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. The pictorial saga is displayed in the souvenir shops especially for the tourists. Forty years ago, Merigeta Afework, a priest in Lalibela, painted the history of King Lalibela. Although it was not possible to obtain this historic painting for the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, a younger artist Haile Mariam Tadesse has now painted a copy in his own style which can be seen in the gallery of the museum in Addis Ababa. A new generation of Ethiopians and tourists are aware of the chronicle of King Lalibela who was responsible for constructing (with the assistance of the angels according to the legend) this sanctuary in stone.
During the mid-1960s the speaker and his wife Elly were employed as the managers of the Seven Olives hotel in Lalibela by one of the grand-daughters of Emperor Haile Selassie, Princess Ruth Desta; they have continued to maintain close connections with the country for over 40 years.