Christian hanging
- Gallery: Room 25
- Culture: Christian
- Made in: Gondar
- Date: 18thC(mid)
- Object type: hanging, textile, religious/ritual equipment
- Materials: silk
- Museum number: Af1973,38.1
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
This Christian hanging is a remarkable example of silk tablet weaving, a delicate and intricate craft that has no surviving large-scale tradition in Ethiopia today. Before you is a hanging cloth, once likely used for a sacred purpose in a church, woven using a unique method where patterns are controlled by small punched cards strung on the warp threads.
You’ll notice it is made of silk and measures around two and a half meters tall. Only five such pieces of similar scale are known to exist globally. Historical records suggest it was created in the city of Gondar, likely by a group of Muslim or Jewish (Falasha) weavers.
This piece was among the treasures looted from the fortress of Emperor Tewodros II during the British campaign in Ethiopia in 1868. Many such objects were taken from churches in the region and later entered European collections. Our example was purchased in the 20th century and its history connects it to one of the most dramatic events in Ethiopian history.
See it in person
Christian hanging is on display in Room 25 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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