Rock of ages: Expert on Ethiopia shares insights into rock-hewn structures
With a rich history of arts and architecture dating to before the Queen of Sheba, seeing Ethiopia's treasures safely outside of the African country is always a treat. Even Michael Gervers, a professor of history and an expert on Ethiopia working at the University of Toronto-Scarborough, has not trekked that country's mountains and deserts since 2020, when civil war erupted. “I am very happy about this exhibition in Toledo,” said Gervers, who will be delivering a lecture, Rock-Hewn Churches and Sacred Groves: Architecture as the Home of Religion and Art in Ethiopia, at the Toledo Museum of Art from 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday. “It is very rare in North America. “It is like a banquet. It is a joy,” he said of the collection of 225 historical and contemporary items being exhibited as part of the Toledo Museum of Art's exhibit, Ethiopia at the Crossroads.