On the lake are several islands with monasteries on them. We took a boat across to a couple of these monasteries, the first one of which is famous for its beautiful Christian paintings from the 13th century.
The paintings were truely stunning and were in fantastic condition considering their age and treatment. One thing however; they were 13th century Ehtiopian Christian interepretations of the bible. A strange combination at the best of times.
The paintings were meant to teach illiterate Ethiopians the bible back in the old days like cartoons. But the focus seemed to be on the rather nasty incidents in the bible where people get hot pokers jabbed in their nether regions. Fortunately for the Ethiopians, the bible is chock full of nasty ways to die, so they painted them in all their glory. I photographed them in all their glory too, here for your amusement.
Okay, so looking at the last one above, I understand a guy is getting decapitated, but one thing that I couldn't work out - just who is the guy wearing the sperm suit near the bottom? He looks worried. I would be too if my mother sent me out in that. Don't forget this is taken from an entry in the bible. I can only assume it is something like "And lo, all those that defy thine lord with thine white suit of sperm shall be smoten!"
Apologies to any religious people out there (sorry mum!). This isn't sacrilige because I've taken it from a holy place and it is the word of the lord... according to the Ehtiopians at least.
One last comment: It was very amusing to see jesus portrayed as a guy with an afro! It beats the Italian renaissance versions any day. Jesus is now a cool dude!
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