File:Panoramic View of the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (3435906326).jpg

If you're interested in facts and figures about the Holy Trinity Cathedral, please refer to the other panoramic photo, which is at the beginning (or other end) of this series.

Here I simply want to express my astonishment at the existence of a neo-Baroque Ethiopian Orthodox cathedral in nation's capital, Addis Ababa.

Far be it from me, an American, to say what Ethiopian Orthodox churches should and shouldn't look like.

I'm interested in it merely as a means of gaining an insight into the mindset of Ethiopia's ruling class in the 1930s and 1940s. If this building is any indication, they were looking towards Europe for inspiration (and acceptance?), and rejecting Ethiopia's traditions in the fields of architecture and decorative arts. By golly, you could find towers and spires just like that in Austria, for Pete's sake!

Only the finials atop the Cathedral's many spires can be traced directly to the traditional art and architecture of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

It's unfortunate the Emperor and his court did not look beyond European religious architecture to European innovations in politics, economics, land tenure, governance and the law. If they had, perhaps one of Emperor Haile Selassie I's descendants might be on the throne of Ethiopia today, ruling as a constitutional monarch.

Emperor Haile Selassie I redeemed himself of his architectural sins with the subsequent construction of the Chapel of the Tablet and the New Church of St. Mary of Zion in Axum. Both buildings were richly informed by Ethiopia's past architectural traditions, particularly those of the Axumite Kingdom.

Note: If this photo looks a bit, well, processed, it's because the sun was on the wrong side of the building at the time of our visit. The front was entirely in shadow. I couldn't walk around in search of another angle because we were told the area past the church was off limits to visitors for security reasons.