Enda Mariam Cathedral, Asmara


Enda Mariam Cathedral is an Eritrean Orthodox church in Asmara, Eritrea. The cathedral is located on Arbate Asmara Street.

Name

In the Tigrinya language enda means "the place of, the habittat of ". Thus, when combined with another noun, indicates a structure associated with that other thing. Thus enda bani means a bakery, enda afras means a stable, enda dewel means a church tower or belfry, enda tseba means a dairy. Mariam means Mary. The church is also called Kidisti Mariam.

Description

The church was present in Asmara since the late XIX century. In the early 1930s, the Italian governor of Asmara ordered to create an improved structure with modern building materials and under the supervision of Italian architects.
In its present rationalist/modernist style, the church dates from 1938, when an unknown Italian architect, added the upper portions of the two flanking towers and the modernistic treatment of the façade to the 1920 form designed by Ernesto Gallo. The 1920 form has also been attributed to Odoardo Cavagnari, who designed Asmara's Opera and Asmara's futuristic Fiat Tagliero service station, and who was Asmara's Chief of Public Works,
Both the central block and the two large freestanding square towers that flank it are built in alternate layers of brick and stone, emulating the layers of wood and stone of Aksumite architecture, a technique that has been for centuries in use in the Eritrean highlands. The protruding wooden support beams in these structures have been named "monkey heads".

Earlier forms

In his account of the visit to Eritrea in 1891 by a Royal Commission sent by the Italian government, Ferdinando Martini, in line with his derogatory attitude towards all matters concerning the native "Abyssinians", described the then church at Asmara as less decent than the huts for hay in Italian farmyards. The illustrated fourth edition of his book includes a photograph of the church, some seven metres long, with traditional "monkey head" walls and a thatched roof whose projection beyond the walls was supported by rough poles.
A 1922 photograph of the church and its two towers in their 1920 form shows that it then had no trace of more contemporary, European styles.

Other prominent religious buildings

It is one of three prominent religious landmarks in the city, the others being the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary and Kulafah Al Rashidan Great Mosque.

Annual feast

The church's Nigdet of Saint Mary is celebrated on 30 November.