Gonder, Ethiopia

Gonder, Ethiopia

by  Tyler Cowen

Gonder was at the height of its prosperity at the turn of the eighteenth century, when it may have had a population of seventy thousand.  Emperor Fasilidades, who founded the new capital around 1635, obviously hoped to create a strong center around which the remnants of the Christian north could rally.  He picked a beautiful site, a flat volcanic ridge at seven thousand feet surrounded by mountains on three sides, but with easy access to Lake Tana in the south.  Gonder’s climate is warm during the day, cool at night, its two streams afforded plentiful water supplies and its hinterland abundant wood and produce.

Enough of an urban economy arose to sustain architecture, music, poetry, literature, painting, calligraphy, and educational, religious, and social institutions.  The emperors appeared in considerable state, surrounded by cour

Enough of an urban economy arose to sustain architecture, music, poetry, literature, painting, calligraphy, and educational, religious, and social institutions.  The emperors appeared in considerable state, surrounded by courtiers, clergy, and soldiers…

Image result for gondar ethiopia

The aristocracy and the monarchy supported the artists and artisans who put up buildings, illuminated manuscripts, decorates the interior of churches and palaces, and worked stone, wood, or pottery.  The town’s castles and other monuments were built of hewn brown basalt blocks and contained features that derived from Axumite and Zagwe times as well as Portuguese models.  They were concentrated in the center of the town, and provided a sharp contrast with the traditional round, thatched, mud wattled homes of the people.

Image result for gondar ethiopia church

That is all from the excellent Harold G. Marcus, A History of Ethiopia.

 

Comments

So Much For Subtlety

One of the benefits of autocracy is that the rulers spend their money on architecture, music, poetry, literature, painting, calligraphy, and educational, religious, and social institutions. Democracies spend vastly more money on Food Stamps and the like.

Future generations benefit a lot more from the autocracies.

P

That’s a good point but not universal. Florence under the Medici (and many other similar states) weren’t autocracies but left a rich legacy thanks to family patronage. Few 20th century autocracies left anything of value – perhaps some of Mussolini’s buildings are an exception?

dearieme

Is one allowed to like the railway station in Milan?

WKPD: “the project … kept changing and became more and more complex and majestic. This happened especially when Benito Mussolini became Prime Minister, and wanted the station to represent the power of the Fascist regime. … Construction resumed in earnest in 1925 and on July 1, 1931, the station was officially opened …”

 

Whoa, slow down:
– The Soviet mass song, Prokofiev, Richter, Rostropovich, etc.;
– Stalinist architecture and sculpture, the Moscow Metro and early Soviet experimental architecture like the Tatlin tower;
– Soviet film industry that gave us Battleship Potyomkin, Alexander Nevsky, Solyaris, Stalker, etc.;
– The highly experimental and diverse Soviet cartoon (in contrast to the commerce-driven democratic cartoon);
– The Soviet political poster, especially in the 1920s;
– Soviet literature and poetry (whether non-dissident or, indirectly, dissident);
– Soviet mathematics and physics.

Every cultural sphere, essentially, except maybe painting, and disproportionally the kind of spheres that require money and a big economy. E.g., you don’t need a spectacular economy to sustain someone like Chinua Achebe or V. S. Naipaul.

The Nazis survived for less than a decade, but Arno Breker’s statues, Carl Orff’s state-sponsored music, the Germania project are all extremely impressive. Besides, the whole party might be seen as an art project of a sort – look how its style and ideas resonate.

So Much For Subtlety

Soviet literature and poetry (whether non-dissident or, indirectly, dissident);

But Soviet literature is so dire and pre-Revolutionary Russian literature so rich. The Revolution killed Russian literature and poetry. The only good writers and/or poets were either killed or persecuted – Bulgakov, Pasternak, Zamyatin – maybe Grossman. The Party only rewarded hacks.

The Nazis survived for less than a decade, but Arno Breker’s statues, Carl Orff’s state-sponsored music, the Germania project are all extremely impressive.

It is probably unacceptable to mention Nuremberg’s Zeppelin Field but I have always had a soft spot for Templehof. Anddefinitely Breker. There is no denying Leni Riefenstahl was a Nazi and a great film maker too.