Gonder Castles Tour Packages

This city lies on a flat ridge of mountains that its peak goes above 2300masl. Its position makes the city a strategic and healthy place not affected by malaria. It is for such a reason that the founder Emperor Fasiledas took that fact into account when he decided to establish this capital in 1635. As a capital of Ethiopia Gondar later founded an extraordinary historic complex, the Royal Castles, which has been the century’s beauty complex in the country that the UNESCO registers it in the World Heritage list in 1979.
This outstanding testimony of 17th and 18th century Ethiopian Castle ranks first among the most important sites of the region for the impressiveness of its imperial architecture. The enclosure for the castles is oval in shape and measures 870m long. This enclosure has got 12 doors bearing twelve evocative names. And inside this enclosure there are more than six castles in which every castle was built by the successive emperors between the 17th and 18th centuries.
The 17th Century Royal Bath in Ethiopia
Two kilometres west of the Royal enclosure lay the huge compound of bath of Emperor Fasiledas (1635-1667), the founder of Gondar city. This bath was where the founding emperor and the successive emperors were used to go with all their court to celebrate Epiphany. Nowadays, the pool serves as a place to celebrate the marvelous and joyful Timkat (Epiphany) celebration every year in January.
Debre Berhan Sellassie Church, (the Sistine Chapel of Ethiopia)
Ancient royal chronicles say this church was founded by Emperor Eyasu, the grandson of Emperor Fasiledas and inaugurated in the last decade of the 17th century. The church is dedicated to the Trinity that its full name means trinity of Mount of Light. This church is one of the most famous ancient Orthodox churches in Ethiopia as it displays splendid ceiling paintings.