Product Code Database
Kola Tembien (, "Lower Tembien") is a woreda in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It is named in part after the former province of Tembien Province. Part of the Mehakelegnaw Zone, Kola Tembien is bordered on the south by Abergele, on the west by the Tekezé River which separates it from the Semien Mi'irabawi (North Western) Zone, on the north by the Wari River which separates it from Naeder Adet and Werie Lehe, on the east by Misraqawi Zone, and on the southeast by Degua Tembien. Towns in Kola Tembien include Guya and Werkamba. The town of Abiy Addi is surrounded by Kola Tembien.
The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 113,712, of whom 56,453 were men and 57,259 were women; 8,871 or 7.8% of its population were urban dwellers. The largest ethnic group reported in Kola Tembien was the Tigrayans (99.88%). Tigrinya was spoken as a first language by 99.82%. 98.23% of the population practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 1.69% were Muslim. Concerning education, 9.15% of the population were considered literate, which is less than the Zone average of 14.21%; 8.64% of children aged 7–12 were in primary school; 0.72% of the children aged 13–14 were in junior secondary school, and 0.86% of the inhabitants aged 15–18 were in senior secondary school. Concerning sanitary conditions, about 86% of the urban houses and 17% of all houses had access to safe drinking water at the time of the census; 11% of the urban and 3% of the total had toilet facilities. 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region, Vol. 1, part 1 , Tables 2.1, 2.12, 2.19, 3.5, 3.7, 6.3, 6.11, 6.13 (accessed 30 December 2008)
Notable landmarks in this woreda include the monastery of Abba Yohanni and the monolithic church of Gebriel Wukien, both of which are north of Abiy Addi.
Six rock-hewn churches are established along the slopes of the Degua Tembien massif.
The Mika’el Samba () rock church is completely rock hewn in Adigrat Sandstone. There are a series of grave cells leading off the main space. As this is not a village church, people come here only rarely, and it is locked most of the time. Priests are present particularly on Mika’els day, the twelfth day of every month in the Ethiopian calendar.
The Maryam Hibeto rock church (), located inconspicuously at the edge of the church forest and cemetery, is also completely hewn in Adigrat Sandstone, with an arched pronaos in front of it. The exterior of the colonnade column has a double capital. The ceiling is carved, and on either side are two elongated chambers which could have been the beginnings of an ambulatory, or else were living quarters. The main entrance to the church is at a lower level, down a number of steps and immediately on entering, a rectangular pool of water fed by a spring to the right. The floor is not level and the columns are stumpy with the springing coming halfway up the columns and oddly cut capitals.
The Welegesa church () is hewn in Adigrat Sandstone. The entrance to the church buildings is in reality part of the rock forming two enclosures or courtyards, both hewn and open to the air. In the first courtyard there are a number of graves, and between the two, a block of stone with a cross in the window opening in the centre. The church proper, three-aisled, four bays in depth, is entered from either side through hewn passageways. The church ceiling is the same height throughout, with capitals, arches and cupolas to each bay, with a hewn tabot in the apse. The plan is sophisticated, with a central axis running north-south and the two open courtyards cut deep into the rock.
The newly hewn Medhanie Alem rock church in Mt. Werqamba () is in a central, smaller peak (in Adigrat Sandstone).
High in the mountains northwest of Abiy Addi, the Geramba rock church () is hewn in the top of a butte of Tertiary silicified limestone, under a thin cover of basalt. The columns are rather crudely carved, although slightly cruciform in plan and with bracket capitals much modified before the springing of the rough arches.
Itsiwto Maryam rock church () is completely hewn in Adigrat Sandstone. The small church has an unusual continuous hipped ceiling to the centre aisle with carved diagonal crosses to the last section and a cross carved above the arch into the sanctuary. The ceiling is flat to the side aisles with longitudinal flat beams running lengthwise into the church, projecting and forming a continuous lintel – very similar to workmanship following the Tigrayan tradition. Access to the church is not permitted because of risk of collapse.
Further up, in the Degua Tembien mountains at the east, there are an additional eight rock churches and natural caves with a church at its entrance.
|
|
