The Graduate School Scholarship Programme 2025, University of

Hamburg
The Research Proposal: a Catalogue of 101 Manuscripts in the Moṭa Däbrä
Gännät St. George Church Museum

BY:
AMSAL ETSUB

CTOBER, 2024
BAHIR DAR, ETHIOPIA
1. Abstracts

The vast majority of Ethiopian churches and monasteries are home to manuscripts and
antiquities and are essential for the preservation of both literary treasures and cultural
legacies. Among such places
Among these places, Moṭa Däbrä Gännät Church is one of the oldest churches in the East
Gojjam Zone which was established by Lǝ’ǝlt Wälättä Ǝˀsraeˀl in 1747 AD. With extensive
collections of historical documents of the Moṭa Däbrä Gännät Church 101 collections of
ancient manuscripts and numerous antiquities in its Church Museum. Thus, the objective of
this project is to investigate the untouched the hidden literary and antiquities treasures hosted
in the aforementioned Church Museum by applying the method of philological approaches.
Accordingly, field observation and documentation of the explored and investigated records
from manuscripts electronically expected as the main task of the researcher and scoped
within the manuscripts obtained by the Moṭa Däbrä Gännät Church within the designed
project plan.
2. Background of the Study

The literary histories of the Ethiopic manuscript shows how monasteries and churches have
functioned as centres of knowledge generation, research, and objects preservation and still
do. The traditional houses and museums of Ethiopian churches and monasteries are primarily
where manuscripts and antiquities are stored. Manuscripts were used in monasteries not only
for their primary religious purpose but also for illumination, binding, copying, and even
translation and creation. The materials used to create books, like parchment, ink, pens,
artefacts, and decorative tools, were made by monasteries. As a result, there are substantial
collections of manuscripts in monastic church archives. (Bausi, 2016:111-153) and (Bosc
2009:1-23).
(Bausi, 2014:46). In connection, the inaccessible island monasteries played an important role
in preserving Ethiopic manuscripts as well as various artifacts. Especially, the likes of Ḥayq
Ǝsṭifanos, Zəway, and Lake Tana monasteries are worth mentioning. During times of crisis
such as war, invasion, famine and migration the surrounding churches and monasteries bring
their manuscripts and treasures to island monasteries for safety (Sergew, 1978:6).
Consequently, Lake Ṭana is the home of monasteries that are well known for preserving an
immense collection of abundant ancient manuscripts and artifacts. Accordingly, there exist
over twenty-nine island and peninsula monasteries (Lachal & Gascon, 2010:856). Amongst,
all these, the Zage Peninsula, is one of the recognized places in this region and comprises
nine monasteries. Of the monasteries, four of them i.e. Maḥal Zage Giryorgis Wa-Batra
Māryām, ʿUra Kidāna Məḥrat, Yəgāndā Takla Hāymānot and Azəwā Māryām monasteries
are rich with abundant manuscript collections and numerous artifacts in their archival
repositories. (ibid, 2010:857; Witakowska, 2012:104b) That is why; these monasteries are
popular in their collections of Ethiopic manuscripts and ancient treasures. Based

on the archival registry list of these monasteries, there are 153 manuscripts at Maḥal Zage
Giryorgis Wa-Batra Māryām, 352 manuscripts at ʿUra Kidāna Məḥrat, 65 manuscripts at
Yəgāndā Takla Hāymānot and over 40 manuscripts preserved at Azəwā Māryām monastery
archive respectively with that of enormous collections of artifacts which not fully explored.
Thus, the preliminary observation based on the written documents and oral narratives from
these monastery communes, illustrates that some of these manuscripts were copied in the
monastery and others found their way to the library as a donation from the clergy, the laity,
and the nobles. While a portion of the manuscripts and artifacts were deposited in the
monastery’s trust by the surrounding churches and monasteries during the time of crises.
Therefore, Zage monastery archival repositories are home to over 600 collections of
manuscripts and immense type of artifacts preserved for centuries. These collections are not
just only a collections, whereas it rich in its record of historical facts, cultural values and so
forth. Therefore, this project is intended to investigate the recurrent codicological,
paleographical, philological, etc. features within the MSS housed in the monastic archival
repositories and a amass documents of historical, cultural, facts injected within the collection
of the MSS and unfold them through critical discussion and presentation. In addition, it will
attempt to disclose the hidden literary heritages, and document digitally, for selected
fascinating manuscripts that are hosted within the respective archival repositories.

3. Statement of the Study

Investigating hidden literary and artefactual wealth through listing, locating, cataloguing,
coding and digitizing, is an ideal work in the field of manuscript and artefactual studies. It
helps that –to investigate and to identify, of to unfold and preserve the treasures of a certain
archival or repository and make it accessible for academic further enquiries. Furthermore, the
study of Christian Ethiopian manuscript culture has made significant progress and a number
of investigation research as well as digitization projects were accomplished in a period when
field research was freely possible in Ethiopia (Denis, 2020:282). These projects were applied
across the country in general and northern Ethiopia in particular. For instance, the Ethio-
SPaRe; the EMIP, and the Endangered Archives Program and so forth are some of the
projects within the frame of Ethiopic Manuscripts. In relation to Lake Ṭana, there have been
different efforts to reproduce the manuscripts of island churches and monasteries. In his
Ṭānāsee project, Hammerschmidt microfilmed the manuscript collections of Kǝbrān Gabrʾel,
Dabra Māryām, Remā and Dāgā ʾƎsṭifānos monasteries and their catalogues published in
1973, 1977, and 1999 respectively. However, the archives of Zage monasteries were neither
microfilmed nor catalogued by the Ṭānāsee project. In the 1970s, over 100 manuscripts of
Zage monasteries were microfilmed by the Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilm Library
(EMML) project, i.e. thirty-two manuscripts from Yəgāndā Takla Hāymānot, sixty
manuscripts from Maḥal Zage Giyorgis, and twenty-three manuscripts from ʾUra Kidāna
Məḥrat monasteries were microfilmed (Witakowska, 2014:105a). Consequently, the
microfilmed manuscripts by the project from protocol numbers EMML numbers 01-5000
have been catalogued by Getachew and Macomber from (1975 to 1993), and published in
consecutive ten volumes. Unfortunately, protocol numbers above 5000, which are mostly the
manuscripts of Zage monasteries are numbered not yet catalogued by the aforementioned
scholars. Taking into consideration the time that those 5000 manuscripts consumed, it is
unlikely Zage monastery manuscripts; i.e. Maḥal Zage Giryorgis Wa-Batra Māryām, ʿUra
Kidāna Məḥrat, Yəgāndā

Takla Hāymānot and Azəwā Māryām manuscripts will be catalogued in the near future.
Another achievement in the reproduction of Ge’ez manuscripts in the area is the project
conducted by the Ethiopian National Archive and Library Agency (ENALA). Unlike the
previous projects, ENALA reproduced manuscripts through microfilm and digitization. It is
obvious that ENALA decided to follow the two approaches for different purposes:
microfilming for its durability and digitization for its clarity. ENALA also microfilmed and
digitized some manuscripts from the archives of Zage monasteries. ENALA deposited the
copy of digitized manuscripts in the office of the Amhara Culture and Tourism Bureau, Baḥir
Dar (ACTB). As far as my knowledge is concerned, ACTB has no intention of cataloguing or
making them accessible to researchers. In the same way, ENALA only reproduces
manuscripts for the purpose of preservation, there is no effort to catalogue them. In 2020, the
present researcher catalogued 22 hagiographical manuscripts, specifically vitas/acts of saints,
from ʾUrā Kidāna Məḥrat monastery archive collection for his MA thesis project, at the
Department of Ge’ez, Bahir Dar University. In addition, Mihreteʾab Merachew (2020), has
also catalogued 15 hagiographical manuscripts, specifically vitas/acts of saints archived at
Maḥal Zage Giryorgis Wa-Batra Māryām monasteries for his MA thesis at the department of
Gəʾəz, Bahir Dar University. This implies that, in fact, the efforts of microfilming,
digitization projects and the two theses, conducted in relation to the aforementioned
collections, there are no academic works conducted and it is a recommendable work in some
instances. Even though the remaining collections are listed in the archival registry of their
respective monasteries, they are not yet microfilmed or digitized. It implies that there is an
open door for possible academic research projects in order to investigate and explore it.
Issues of enquiries may arise on what is in these archives? What kind of texts are exhibited
within the collection? How many of them exactly exhibited? How can we make it accessible
for academic research? What are the amass documents of historical, cultural, facts injected
within the collection of the MSS? And so forth. Therefore, this study is intended to produce
academic research findings to the aforementioned gaps and enquires, by investigating and
exploring these hidden literary treasures, through assessing, listing and possibly providing
certain detailed catalogues selectively from the immense collection of these monastery
archives as well as digitizing fascinating witnesses and folia from each text. Of course,
beyond listing the physical existence of the collections, the project is amid to do an
investigation on the literary features and its connotation exhibited within the manuscripts and
artifacts. Moreover, the study will investigate and address the following questions: (1) what
are the monastic archives of Zage peninsula monasteries? (2) How many collections can
obtained in the archives? (3) What are the records there beyond the main theme of the
manuscript? (4) How these literary texts can be explored for the purpose of academic
research? And (5) what are the artefactual collections exhibited and its connotation?

4. Research Objectives
As the research at UWA aims to develop a global framework for the study of all written
artefacts from the beginning of writing to the present day and across all regions that have
produced such artefacts, this research project has the following specific objectives.

 To identify the monastic archival repositories of Zage peninsula monasteries.

 To create inventories, shelf lists and produce a detailed catalogue of the manuscripts
 To create digital copies of selected witnesses archived in it
 To investigate and unfold the mass documents of historical, cultural, facts injected
within the collection of the MSS
 To make it accessible for academic further enquires/researches in the field of
manuscript studies.
 To prepare proper documentation of the existing manuscripts within the archives of
the monasteries.
 To unfold the artefactual collections exhibited within the archival repositories.
5. Significance of the study
Research projects are significant in contributing to higher academic fields of study. In
connection with this, there are various opportunities for exploration in academic works in the
field of Ethiopic manuscript studies. Therefore, this project may help in exploring the hidden
that might be useful towards Ethiopic manuscript studies. It also helps the readers/researcher
to explore the significant several of information recorded within existed manuscript .
6. Methodological Approaches
Nowadays, in modern academic researches, researchers may apply different methodological
approaches to their respective research projects and application of these methodological
approaches may differ based on the nature of the designed. Thus, in the case of philological
researches, we may apply methods as per the aim of the study. Accordingly, this will follow
the application of descriptive Qualitative Research design. Because, the aim of this projects is
exploring the untouched or discovered hidden literary treasures hosted in the aforementioned
monastery archives. Therefore, field observation and documentation of the explored
manuscripts electronically expected as main task of the researcher and scoped within the
manuscripts obtained by the Zage monastery archives.
7. Research Plan
The essential factor that determines effective accomplishment of a certain project is proper
schedule, utilization and management of time. In the meantime, this Ph.D. research project is
expected to take three years to be completed and the whole project should be finalized in a
three years as per the following plan of research. Therefore, below we can see the time
schedule for designed detail project activities.

N Activities Time
O
1 Collecting and organizing up-to- date reviewed April 01, May 30, 2024
literature and refining the research methodology 2024
- Attend lectures as per the schedule
2 Attending Seminar courses and writing Papers June 01,2024 December 30, 2024
3 Identifying and Listing manuscripts explored by January 01, January 30, 2025
other projects 2024
– Attending some selected courses and presenting
the progress report
4 Field research to Ethiopia to explore and collect the February 01, May 30, 2025
hidden literary manuscripts owned by the archives 2025
Zege monasteries and churches. -Listing & exploring
the Manuscripts -Recording oral narratives related to
literary treasures and artifacts -Selected digitization of
fascinating Manuscripts and artifacts
5 Analysis of the Manuscript collections obtained in field June 01, December 30, 2025
work 2025
– Analyze the recurrent Codicology and Paleography of
the manuscripts,
- The text character, various records and categorization
- Cataloguing the texts collected
- Submission of the draft for the Professor and take the
feed back
6 -Producing the List, detailed catalogues of the January 01, March 30, 2026
respective manuscripts 2026
- Attending seminar courses and present the research
work
7 -Start writing an initial article that may constitute part April 01, June 30, 2026
 of the dissertation 2026
8 - Final editing of the dissertation - Writing the second July 01, 2026 August 30, 2026
article and published in the Journal of Ethiopian studies
- Present the progress of the research
9 Submission of the complete first draft dissertation September December, 2026

report - Defend the PhD dissertation 01, 2026

8. Bibliographies

Ayinekulu Mulugeta, (2020). Catalogue of Hagiographical Manuscripts of ʾUrā Kidāna

Məḥrat
Monastery. (Unpublished MA Thesis), Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar.
Balicka-Witakowiska, Ewa. (2012). "Zäge". In Siegbert Uhlig (Eds.), Encyclopedia
Aethiopica (Vol. 5, Pp.
104-107). Harrassowitz Verlag. Wiesbaden
Bausi, A. (2014). ‘Writing, Copying, Translating: Ethiopia as a Manuscript Culture’, in J.
Quenzer, D.
Bondarev, and J.-U. Sobisch (eds), Manuscript Cultures: Mapping the Field, Studies in
Manuscript
Cultures, 1 (pp. 37-77). Berlin - New York: De Gruyter.
Denis Nosnitsin, (2020). Christian Manuscript Culture of the Ethiopian-Eritrean Highlands:
Some
Analytical Insight. In Samantha Kelly, (Ed.), A companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Pp
282-283. Brill
Getatchew Haile. (1981-1993). A catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts microfilmed for the
Ethiopian
Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa, and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library,
Collegeville, Vol. V: Project Numbers 1501- 2000; Vol. VIII: Project Numbersm 3001-3500;
Vol.
IX: Project Numbers 3501- 4000; Vol. X: Project Numbers 4001-5000. Minnesota.
Getatchew Haile and Macomber, W. F. (1979-1983). A catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts
microfilmed
for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic
Manuscript
Microfilm Library, Collegeville. Vol. IV: Project Numbers 1101-1500; Vol. VI: Project
Numbers
2001-2500; & Vol. VII: Project Numbers 2501-3000. Minnesota.
Kinefe-Rigb Zelleke. (1975). Bibliography of the Ethiopic Hagiographical Traditions. Journal
of Ethiopian
Studies, 13(2), 57-102.
Lachal, Maxime & Gascon, Alain. (2010). “Ṭānā”. In Siegbert Uhlig (Ed.), Encyclopedia
Aethiopica (Vol.
IV, Pp. 855a-857b). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Macomber, William F. (1975-1978). A catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts microfilmed for
the Ethiopian
Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Microfilm
Library, Collegeville. Vol. I: Project Numbers 1–300; Vol. II: Project Numbers 301-700; Vol.
III:
Project Numbers 701–1100. Minnesota.
Mihreteʾab Merachew. (2020), Catalogue of Hagiographical Manuscripts of Maḥal Giyorgis
Monastery.
(Unpublished MA Thesis). Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar.
Taddesse Tamrat. (1972). Church and State in Ethiopia. London: Oxford University Press.
Tamirat G/Mariam, (2020). Ethiopian Manuscripts and Archives: Challenges and Prospects.
In Watcharin
Joemsittiprasert Et. al. (Eds.): Palarch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology 17(10).
(Pp,
4214-4227) ISSN 1567-214x

Reference
Bausi, A. (2016). Composite and Multiple-Text Manuscripts: The Ethiopian Evidence. One-Volume
Libraries—Composite and Multiple-Text Manuscripts, 111-153.
Bosc-Tiessé, C. (2009). A Century of Research on Ethiopian Church Painting: A Brief
Overview. Journal of Ethiopian studies, 42(1/2), 1-23.