Fasil Ghebbi
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How it came to be
From the 13th to the 17th century Ethiopian emperors moved their court around their lands as a camp. In 1636 Emperor Fasilides settled at Gondar, north of Lake Tana, and made it his permanent capital. Around his castle of stone and lime the court grew into the walled compound of Fasil Ghebbi.
Later emperors, among them Yohannes I, Iyasu I and Dawit III, built their own palaces in the compound, and its 900-metre wall gained twelve gates. The buildings, of brown basalt with red tuff ornament, show Indian and Arab influence, and a Yemeni envoy who visited in 1648 wrote that Fasilides' palace was the work of an Indian architect.
Gondar remained the seat of government until 1864. Outside the compound stand Fasilides' bathing palace and several churches. The site was inscribed in 1979.
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