THE CHURCH OF MARYAM DEBRA-TSION IN THE HISTORY OF ETHIOPIAN ROCK-HEWN ARCHITECTURE
The rock-hewn church of Maryam Debra Tsion is located in the Garalta rocks in the Tigray region (Ethiopia). It is a well-lit church, with high arches, where there are preserved colorful paintings in two cycles (the last third of the XIV<sup>th </sup>and middle of the XV<sup>th</sup> centuries). The monument is remarkable for a number of features. The church is separated from the main-rock by a tunnel of ambulatory from the south, west and east sides. The northern facade, decorated with imitation Aksumite masonry, is part of the scarp of the rock. This three-altar church belongs to the late medieval "open type", where the maqdas (sanctuary) is not separated from the qeddest by a wall. In addition to the rich murals, this church has an expressive carved decoration - numerous arched niches atypically placed in three rows, both in the Maqdas and on the north and south walls. This type of decoration is known only in two Ethiopian churches. The article deals with the genesis of the plan of the church of Maryam Debra Tsion and the problem of the origin of the atypical decoration of the interior of this monument. Another goal of the work is to detect the influence of the forms of this, in many aspects “innovative” church, on a number of other rock-hewn churches of the Tigray region.