In northern Ethiopia, where the Tigray plateau breaks up into arid gorges, a flat mountain rises like a forgotten altar:

Debre Damo.
The monastery that stands on top has neither road nor path. To reach it, you have to climb along a vertical wall, holding on to a leather rope lowered by the monks. No ladders. No handholds. Just faith and strong hands.

Debre Damo is one of the oldest monasteries in Africa, founded according to tradition in the 6th century by Abuna Aregawi, one of the legendary Nine Syrian Saints who brought Christianity to the Ethiopian plateau. Having arrived here guided by faith, in front of the rocky wall, an enormous serpent sent by God allowed him to climb up it to the top. For this reason, even today, the only access is vertical: a rope lowered from above, as a symbol of that miracle.

The walls of the church of Betä Māryām have stood for 1,500 years and inside, worn frescoes, manuscripts in Ge'ez and icons blackened by incense bear witness to an unshakable and silent faith.

The monks live without electricity or running water, nourishing themselves with bread, prayer and solitude. The monastery is forbidden to women. Even the mothers of the monks stop at the foot of the rock, looking up, in silence.

In 2021, Debre Damo was hit by the violence of the conflict in Tigray. Some monks died, the sacred treasures were looted, and the future of the monastery is today suspended like its very position: between the abyss of the past and the hope of tomorrow.

This reportage aims to tell the story of Debre Damo, as a symbol of spiritual resistance, suspended architecture and as a hymn to its memory.
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