CONTEXT

The historic city of Gondar is located in the northwestern part of Ethiopia and standing at an elevation of about 7500 feet . In Gondar, we see a significant point in Ethiopian urban development. The city flourished and endured as the capital for two hundred years – and still to this day an important historic and cultural hub

Looking briefly at the whole city plan, it is easy to point out where the historic center is located as opposed to the sprawl that is currently eating away at it. The historic center is mostly made up of regular blocks comprised of an irregular configuration of buildings. The streets maintain a modest hierarchy responding reasonably to the rich topography – yet lacking in civic spaces. Ethiopia is a very conservative country with most of it adhering to the Coptic Orthodox Christian Faith. Therefore, almost all of the public spaces that exist are concentrated around the church, mosque, or religious activities in general – with very little alternative for non-religious social gatherings.

In the city of Gondar there is at lease an attempted at providing some forms of public plazas. This might be the result of the Italian urban planning; one can see the structure that is still maintained form the Italian scheme. Fasil Gibi which I have mentions in previous chapters is not as much a civic space as it is a monument at the center of the city. It is the most integral part of the history and culture of Gondar. Even though the Gibi (compound) in and of itself is not a public space, there are however several civic spaces in close proximity to it. The Gondar City Hall is located directly south of the palace complex and adjacent to it is a public park. Both of these civic spaces are contained within walled compounds; this is a regularly occurring element in almost all cites in Ethiopia. Most buildings – aside form very few commercial and office buildings – be it residential or civic are contained within a wall of some sort. North of the complex we can find a very popular market square Kidame Gebeya (Saturday market). Here we can find low scale kiosk-like shopping structures; but there are even more people that just lay out their wares on the side to commence with mercantile activities.

Overall Structural Plan of Gondar showing the location of the site in relation to the historic center of the city