The Anglo-Ethiopian Society
Book Launch - Lalibela: Wonder of Ethiopia - The Monolithic Churches and their Treasures
Jacques Mercier and Claude Lepage
Tuesday 18th September 2012
6.30 - 9.00pm, The Ethiopian Embassy, 17 Princes Gate, South Kensington, London SW7 1PZ
RSVP: Ethiopian Heritage Fund to book a place.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lalibela in Ethiopia is one of the most extraordinary places in the world. It contains thirteen churches, not all of which were originally designed as such, which were hewn or carved from the native rock in imitation of buildings. The site has usually been dated to the 12th or 13th century when, according to legend, it was founded by King Lalibala, ruler of a newly revived kingdom, a number of centuries after the fall of the sacred capital Aksum which had converted to Christianity in the 4th century. This is the first book to focus on this extraordinary site in all its many dimensions - historical and cultural, archaeological, architectural, art historical and documentary - and has proved to be a fascinating detective story!
Both Jacques Mercier and Claude Lepage are distinguished scholars of Ethiopia. Claude Lepage is Emeritus Professor, Chair of Byzantine Art, at the École Pratique des Hautes-Etudes, Paris, co-author with Jacques Mercier of Art éthiopien: Les églises historiques du Tigray. Jacques Mercier is Researcher at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris, and author of Vierges d'Éthiopie. Portraits de Marie dans la peinture éthiopienne and L'Arche éthiopienne. Art chrétien d'Éthiopie.
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| Lalibela - Wonders of Ethiopia 344 pages, hardback, 300 x 240 mm, 290 colour illustrations ISBN: 978 1 907372 19 3, Price: £40, $60 Books will be available for purchase at the launch |
Funded by Ethiopian Heritage Fund, www.ethiopianheritagefund.org
Published in association with Paul Holberton publishing, London, www.paulholberton.com
Distributed in the United States and Canada by University of Washington Press, www.washington.edu/uwpress