Madonna of Ethiopan Empress Taytu Betul

In the heart of the imperial palace of Addis Ababa, among Ge'ez scrolls and Orthodox icons, Empress Taytu Betul kept a statue carved from dark wood: a Black Madonna with Ethiopian features, deep eyes, and hand-engraved robes. It was not merely a work of art, but a symbol of protection and spiritual power, which Taytu carried with her during prayer and military campaigns.
Legend says the statue was gifted by a monk from the monastery of Lalibela, carved from a sacred tree that grew near the rock-hewn church. The Black Madonna represented for Taytu the mother of the nation, watching over Ethiopia's freedom against colonial threats. During the Battle of Adwa in 1896, the statue was secretly brought to the battlefield, hidden beneath a canopy, while Taytu led the troops with courage and strategy.
After Emperor Menelik Il's death, Taytu retired to the monastery of Le Mariam, where the statue remained for decades, venerated by monks as an imperial relic. But during the Italian invasion of 1935, many sacred objects were stolen or scattered. A young priest, determined to protect it, wrapped the statue in sacred cloth and entrusted it to a caravan heading toward Sudan.
The statue traveled for years, passing from hand to hand: from a Coptic merchant to a French collector, from a missionary archive to a forgotten chapel. Until, mysteriously and almost as if destined, it reached me. 
Doktor Lazarus Archaeologist, Historian, Collector, Independent Curator