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There is
no other cross in the world that even remotely shares any design
commonality with the Lalibela Ethiopian Cross. This Cross is
unique in its highly sophisticated design and how ingeniously the
greatest Biblical story is incorporated within its matrix. The
first time I saw the Lalibela Cross was when I was a high school
student some forty years ago--in another life. Since then until
very recently, I thought of the Lalibela Cross as very mysterious
and puzzling. Thus, over the years I tried to learn more about
this great Cross. At times, I even wondered how it could even be
considered a cross.
There are two basic designs of crosses: the Latin Cross and the
Greek Cross. Every cross in the world is built around these two
underlying designs. I checked thousands of variations, some
improvised and others strictly traditional designs of crosses, in
books, catalogs, and recently through the Internet. From thousands
of cross designs that I checked there is not a single design that
could even remotely compare with the originality and beauty of the
Ethiopian Lalibela Cross. Thus, I think the Lalibela Cross is a
third group that stands for its unique matrix as a third basic
design next to the Latin and Greek, all on its own.
Few
religious artifacts, as tangible corporeal symbols of Faith, are
as venerated, adored, loved, and �worshiped� as the Cross in
Ethiopia. Not only the Christian Faithful adorn themselves with a
small cross about their person (usually worn on a string or chain
around their necks), but also often times non-Christian females
wear the Cross as part of their jewelry, at least those young
girls I saw in my part of Ethiopia (Dessie, Wollo). Of course,
since the cross has a very close design resemblance to the �Anuak,�
the symbol of life from ancient Pharonic civilization, the
attraction of the cross for Ethiopians maybe explained as a deep
primordial recognition of an ancient symbol through communal sub
consciousness.
In this
one design the Christian dogma and history of the Church is
encapsulated in an exquisitely balanced expressive design. The
Cross is based on two elongated circles intertwined with each
other, where one simply continues or merges into the other,
symbolizing the temporal and the eternal, or Heaven and Earth, or
the Spiritual and the Physical aspects of Creation. The Trinity
(God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) is represented by
the three crosses on the vertical axis. The thirteen triangles
with small circles on top of each arranged around the crown of the
upper oval/circle represent Christ and his Twelve Disciples. And
the three pairs of wings on the opposite sides of the lower
oval/circle balance the crowning upper design of the Christ with
his Disciples. The effect is stunning, that of flawless beauty
that transcends time and space.
The simplification of the human body into geometric design of a
triangle and a circle is a perfect choice, for the artist could
have chosen any number of simplifications. The choice of a
triangle with a little circle on top seems to suggest a sitting
figure. Thus the over all design not only fully represents the
Christ and his Disciples but also suggests a particular historical
time in the life of the Christian Church that of the Last
Supper--the last communion of man and God.
The wings play a more abstract role suggesting spirituality as
opposed to representation of a particular concept of God as the
Holy Spirit. This is quite obvious in later developments where the
artist seems preoccupied in purely creative search in perfecting
this unique design of the Lalibela Cross more than any form of
narration. For example, in both Processional and Priest Crosses we
see the six side wings simply being integrated in the matrix of
the Cross with decoration as a primary motif. This is a
significant departure from the spiritual to the aesthetic. In
fact, such distinction may even be too shallow to describe the
process of metamorphosis underway in the minds of the Ethiopian
artists who created such wonderful masterpieces.
The
Christ is represented by a triangle that is superimposed on the
first cross on top of the oval dome. And the Twelve Disciples are
arranged six on each side of the Christ. The genius of the
Ethiopian artist is to be seen also in the subtle suggestion one
feels from the arrangement of the Christ and the Twelve Disciples,
the presence of the �crown of thorns� that the Christ was
forced to wear on his way to Golgotha. This Cross is truly a
testament of love and faith. The overall effect is of
indescribable harmony and beauty.
Within
this new or original matrix of the Lalibela Cross you can see
variations that are more impressionistic in execution than
symbolic representational. For example, the Christ and the
Disciples are transformed into a rhythmic vein. Some people might
dismiss this further abstraction a result of sloppy craftsmanship,
but I believe that it is an aesthetic development of much higher
magnitude of abstraction of the basic representational work into
an impressionistic and further on as pure design. Whether one
looks at these features of the cross as purely decorative the fact
remains that the creativity, originality, sense of balance and
harmony of the Lalibela Cross is awe inspiring. When it comes to
the adulation of the cross, the Ethiopian artist or artists who
designed such masterpieces have no equals anywhere in the
Christian World.
All great works of art suspend time for there is nothing outside
of such works that could be added to enhance or embellish because
such masterpieces are self defining and self contained, and we are
totally immersed with such works. In their great beauty, they
contain all of human experience of the Universe. These artifacts
become the center that pulls our human experience and the mystery
of existence together; in a way, through art we are forced into
becoming one with the Universe.
One may
generalize that the genius of the Ethiopian artists who created
the Lalibela Cross is not limited to their great structural
abstraction, but also extends to their absolute control of the
religious symbolism integrated in the cross from overwhelming the
over all design. There is absolute balance between each part of
the Lalibela Cross. In fact, the Cross seems to be contained by
far more profound and subtle narrative just touching the
subconscious represented in the general matrix of the artifact.
However, one should not forget the fact that the Lalibela Cross is
an item of devotion, thus essentially utilitarian. Is that not
what religion is supposed to be? A kind of guide to achieve
eternal communion with the Creator of the Universe?
I
searched far and wide for years going through books and catalogues
checking (comparing) thousands of all kinds of Cross designs, but
could not find anything that is as sophisticated and as complete,
as unique and as beautiful as the Lalibela Cross. It is now clear
to me why scholars wrote about the Lalibela Cross scantly and
cryptically. They were all as puzzled and as stunned as I once
was, that is what I would like to believe had happened.
Some
Scholars were quite dismissive in their evaluation of the artistic
achievement of those Ethiopian masters. Even Richard Pankhurst,
one of Ethiopia�s most distinguished historians, does not seem
to pay much needed attention to those great Ethiopian artists who
created the Lalibela Cross. Pankhurst wrote, �the basic design
of the processional cross, irrespective of the material out of
which it was fashioned, was that of an often highly elaborate, and
Ethiopianized, Greek or Latin cross�. Though all crosses were of
course cruciform in conception, many processional crosses gave the
appearance of other forms. Some were thus almost entirely round,
and others diamond-shaped. Others again, particularly
characteristic of the Lalibela period, were enclosed in an
elongated pear-shaped frame, almost like a highly decorated
leaf.� Richard Pankhurst, �Ethiopian Crosses, and Their
History: Processional, Hand and Neck Crosses,� Addis Tribune,
1997. https://archives.geez.org
In my
quest for connection to my nation�s awesome history, I asked few
Ethiopians for their ideas of the Lalibela Cross, and their
response is very interesting. Almost everyone said that the
Lalibela Cross is the most beautiful cross of all of Ethiopian
crosses. However, very few were able to tell me what form of
symbolism or message was incorporated in the design of the
Lalibela Cross. Some did not even know the designation of the
cross as the �Lalibela Cross.� That fact did not bother me at
all, for by not knowing such narrative, they seem to have
experienced the beauty of the cross, transcending history, and our
pedantic categorization of a great masterpiece, on its own
(terms). In fact, I am more envious of such direct emotional
experience of spirituality than the rigor and certainty born out
of searching for an illusive truth.
Tecola W. Hagos
Washington
DC
July,
2002
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