Principles and Conservation Values of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church The Case of Debrelibanos monastery
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Date
2018-06
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EiABC
Abstract
Conservation of Living Religious Heritage, a concept defined in recent centuries, has found an important place in the world of cultural heritage. Indeed, it is hard, today, to find countries without specific cultural conservation legislation, as living religious heritage conservation has become an important field of heritage conservation and management.
Living religious heritage reflects not only the values normally embodied in “monuments” (memory, artistic values etc), but it also represents civic identities and the “living” expression of historic evolution reflected on life after death thought of a society. In recent years, religious heritage has also become a priceless asset for economic development, mostly, though not exclusively, linked to the growth of the global tourism industry.
While it is acceptable to envisage physical conservation the final goal of heritage polices in the case of monuments and archaeological sites, where the values to be preserved are supported exclusively by the physical structures, this is not sufficient for living religious heritages for their values are imbedded in the culture of the society. In this case, the values to be preserved are strictly linked to the history of a particular community, and have not only artistic and architectural, but also symbolic and intangible forms: if these values are lost, conservation loses its purpose. In this study the case of Debrelibanos Monastery is discussed in line with international conservation theories and similar case studies. Primary and secondary data are also used for analysis.
This thesis tried to identify values and conservation principles of Ethiopian Orthodox Church specifically in historic monasteries. From in-depth interview, organized questionnaires and literature reviews analysis, imbedded values of conservation of living religious heritage are explained. The findings of the theses show that there is a gap between stockholders acting on those heritage sites in defining “values of conservation”
In order to draw value based approach for the conservation of these living religious heritages, it’s recommended that all stakeholders should base their approach on those embedded values both in policy making and academia.
Description
This thesis is submitted to the Graduate Programs Director of the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC), Addis Ababa University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Conservation of Urban and Architectural Heritages
Keywords
Conservation of Living Religious Heritage, cultural heritage