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Enda Mariam Cathedral

Enda Mariam Cathedral

Ernesto Gallo & Odoardo Cavagnari

Photo: sailko · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Asmara, Eritrea
Client / Owner
Italian governor of Asmara
Year
Completed 1938
Access
Public
Typology
Spiritual

Enda Mariam Cathedral is an active cathedral of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Asmara, Eritrea. A simple wooden church stood in Asmara from the late nineteenth century. The Italian governor of Asmara ordered an improved structure in the early 1930s, built with modern materials. The form of 1920 is attributed to Ernesto Gallo and also to Odoardo Cavagnari, Asmara's chief of public works. An unknown Italian architect added the upper parts of the flanking towers and the modernist facade in 1938, which is the present form.

The style is rationalist, with walls of alternating brick and stone inspired by Aksum. A central block sits between two large square towers. Protruding wooden beams, called monkey heads, are another Aksumite feature.

The cathedral is also called Qidisti Mariam, or Saint Mary, and is one of three prominent religious landmarks in Asmara.

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