Michael Gervers, Project Director
Michael Gervers has been teaching History and Art History at the University of Toronto since 1976 (after three years as Assistant Professor at New York University), and has been Full Professor since 1984. His interest in rock-hewn churches began as a graduate student at the Université de Poitiers, when he excavated the church of St. Georges (1965-74), carved out of the limestone cliff below the village of Gurat (Charente, France). Searching for comparative material, he studied the rock-cut monastic complexes in and around Göreme (Cappadocia, Turkey) and at Matera (Basilicata) in southern Italy. He extended his research to Ethiopia in 1982, reached Lalibäla in 1993, and since 2000 has made annual field trips to Ethiopia’s highland regions to document Christian antiquities. Since 2015, with the support of the Arcadia Foundation, he has concentrated on making video recordings with contemporary master craftsmen responsible for hewing out churches from the rock, in order to preserve oral accounts of this ancient activity, now endangered by modernization. Other interviewees recorded on this website include monks, priests, patrons, parishioners and administrators who, in one way or another, are associated with these newly carved churches.
Solomon Belay Faris, On-Site Coordinator and Interviewer
Dr. Solomon Belay Faris was born and raised in Ethiopia. His interest in the history and making of his country started from childhood. He earned his first degree in Biology from the University of Asmara and second degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Addis Ababa. He earned his doctoral degree in Science and Development Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Science and Mathematics Education, College of Education, University of Addis Ababa.
His interest in rock hewn churches is a continuation of his doctoral studies, whose focus was restoring local spiritual and cultural values in science education. In this joint research venture he serves as interviewer while sifting and organizing the scientific and spiritual principles that animate the craftsmen in hewing rock churches. Once these principles are identified and organized the hope is that supplementary materials will be developed for the Ethiopian school science curriculum. He has contributed articles on indigenous knowledge, science and spirituality in the Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education.
Mario Di Salvo, Architect
Mario Di Salvo is the author of a number of publications on different forms of artistic expression, especially in the field of architecture and the figurative arts. As the realm of Ethiopian studies, in addition to various essays and research, his books include:
Churches of Ethiopia: The Monastery of Narga Sellase, Milan, Skira 1999
Crosses of Ethiopia: The Sign of Faith, Milan, Skira 2006
The Basilicas of Ethiopia: An Architectural History, London, I. B. Tauris 2017
Tarn Philipp, Architect
Tarn Philipp is a South African born, London-based architect. He first visited Ethiopia in 2014 and has returned every year since. His dissertation entitled The Eternal Monkey Head, explored the origins and development of Ethiopian Christian architecture. In 2015, he was awarded the ADAM Architecture Travel Scholarship to further study rock-hewn churches in Ethiopia. The scholarship enabled him to visit some twenty churches and conduct measured survey at several sites.
In October 2016 he was a guest speaker at the Art Worker’s Guild in London, where he delivered a lecture on his research Architecture as Sculpture. In 2018, he presented work at an event hosted by ADAM Architecture in Winchester and also gave a paper, Documenting Transforming Structures, at the International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (ICES20) in Mekelle, Ethiopia. Tarn Philipp has worked alongside Professor Michael Gervers since 2016 and has produced measured drawings and site descriptions of over thirty previously undocumented sites.
Bayenew Melaku, Architect
Ethiopian Architect Bayenew Melaku is a lecturer in the CUAH (chair of Conservation of Urban and Architectural Heritage) in EiABC (Ethiopian Institute of Architecture Building Construction and City Development) at Addis Ababa University. His research under the direction of Professor Fasil Giorghis will be incorporated into the curriculum on conservation and the development of databases for teaching.
Bayenew is research coordinator and chief site Architect in the conservation of the historic Menilik II Mausoleum Taaka Nagast Baata Lemariam Church in the Imperial Compound in Addis Ababa. He also coordinates and supervises the architectural conservation of the Church of Dabra Mihret St. Michael in Ankober, and was part of the conservation team of the World Heritage archeological site in Aksum. The Addis Ababa diocese has assigned him to document highly deteriorated churches found in and around Addis Ababa.
He is interested in the Architectural and Cultural values of rock-cut churches since these values and the ancient technology of the craft are vanishing due to rapid urbanization and the transformation of the urban landscape. Bayenew has been working with Professor Michael Gervers as an Architect on expeditions to northern Ethiopia. He has produced measured drawings, 3D visualization and animations, and is involved in the post-production of video interviews and recorded documents.
Tedla Desta, Transcriber and Translator
Tedla Desta (PhD) has an interdisciplinary research and teaching background including international development, journalism, sociology and peace studies. Tedla completed his PhD in Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ireland in 2015 researching the communications, conflict and peace nexus from a multidisciplinary perspective. He lectured and was a researcher in Trinity College Dublin and Maynooth University, Ireland, Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), Pretoria, South Africa. He has published research papers in various academic journals on interdisciplinary issues. Tedla has published several articles and research papers on various topics on his native Ethiopia. He is now a Research Liaison in Queen’s University, Canada and also assists in the New Rock-Hewn Churches of Ethiopia Project, University of Toronto.
Retta Alemayehu, Transcriber and Translator
Leveraging an extensive academic background in social sciences & education, including acquiring MA, B.Ed. and Ed. D credentials from McGill University and the University of Toronto’s OISE, as well as a BA degree in Ethiopian Languages and Literature from Addis Ababa University, Dr. Alemayehu has extensive experience in teaching as well as social and educational program development and management in Canada & other countries. He is currently a consultative leader with Horizon, a Toronto, Canada-based organization dedicated to newcomer settlement, adaptation, and educational support for the city’s vibrant and growing immigrant community. Previously, he exercised an executive directorial role with the Ethiopian Association in the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding regions, where he based his strong leadership skills on a philosophy using a pragmatic approach to NGO governance.
Between 2001 and 2008, Dr. Alemayehu harnessed his background in education as an instructor in ESL, adult education, and social studies and mentor of novice teachers with a range of secondary and post-secondary institutions in Toronto, Canada, and New York City, USA, following an extensive career in international education coordination and facilitation with numerous international organizations operating in Africa & North America.
Mezgebe Girmay, Interviewer, Transcriber and Translator
Mezgebe Girmay is from the Atsbi-Womberta region of Tigray, Ethiopia. Following post-secondary education in Mekelle, he became a mathematics teacher for several years before doing a B.A. in Civic and Ethical education at Mekelle University. In 2010, while a second year student, he was hired as a NOTAM Briefing Officer in the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority. He completed his first Bachelor’s degree in 2011, but since it differed from his employment at the time he completed a second B.A. in Computer Science at the private Sheba University in Mekelle in 2015. He is currently employed by the ECAA as a Linear NOTAM Briefing Officer.
Mezgebe is a deacon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. He has been familiar with the many rock-hewn churches in the eastern region of Tigray since childhood and although he never studied them per se, the transition to interviewing craftsmen, priests, patrons and parishioners for the present project has been straight forward. His knowledge of the Church serves him well as a transcriber, interpreter and translator of interviews in Tigrinya and Amharic, while his background in computing greatly facilitates the use of ELAN software in preparing videos with transcriptions and translation for display on the internet. Through participation in the Arcadia Project, he looks forward to future studies concerning the undiscovered historical artifacts of the church and the country.
Blen Taye, Transcriber, Translator and Technical Advisor
Blen is a Ph.D. student at the University of Oxford. She has a BSc in Architecture and an MSc in Archaeological Material Sciences. She is interested in studying the deterioration of heritage buildings in the natural environment. Her Ph.D. research focuses on developing a methodology to diagnose deterioration of rock-cut heritage sites using non-destructive and laboratory techniques. She is currently studying the deterioration of a group of rock-hewn churches at the UNESCO world heritage site in Lalibela (Ethiopia), and hopes that the results of her research will improve the techniques currently being used to monitor and preserve rock-cut heritage sites.
Michael Baheru, Transcriber and Translator
Michael Baheru is currently a Masters student in International Health at KIT (Royal Tropical Institute) in Amsterdam. He did his undergraduate degree in Medicine and worked in a public hospital for over a year as a junior general medical practitioner. He then moved on to exploring various projects of different caliber that not only shaped his academic and life skills, but also helped build networks and relationships. In late 2016, he joined ABIDE (Alliance for Brain Gain and Innovative Development of Ethiopia) as a technical manager to deliberate on reducing ‘brain-drain,’ and worked towards harmonizing the needs of the country with the knowledge that the diaspora wanted to come back and contribute to knowledge exchange. In 2017, he joined a research firm as a technical assistant to work on a national survey about Community Based Newborn Care (CBNC). He is on the verge of completing his Masters degree while continuing to be engaged in socially active multi-sectoral projects in Ethiopia.