Painting from the church of Abbas Antonios - Knights and martyrs

Christianity arrived in Ethiopia in the 4th century AD, leading to the construction of churches and monasteries with which were associated the traditional images of the life of the Virgin Mary, Christ and the saints. The church of Saint Antony at Gondar was built during the reign of Yohannes I (1667-1682) following a very difficult military campaign. At the summit of a hill, protected by an enclosure, this church has a circular plan, with at its centre a rectangular room – the maqdas or holy of holies – which holds the Tablets of Law and whose walls were covered in wall paintings. This exceptional assemblage dating from the 17th century was brought back to France by the Dakar-Djibouti Mission in 1932. The northern wall of the maqdas depicted the warlike values linked to Christianity, and martyrs. From left to right, upper level: Saint Theodore, Saint Claude and Saint Mercury slaying pagan figures. Lower level: the beheading of Saint John the Baptist, the crucifixion of Saint Peter, the decapitation of Saint Paul and the stoning of Saint Stephen.