Painting on Canvas: St. Raphael
date: label: Accession Date
content: 27 Feb 2003
name: label: Donor Name
content: Fisseha Berhanemeskel
notes: label: Notes
content: Saint Raphael (Abuna Rufa'el) Archangel, painted in 2001 by Berhanemeskel Fisseha. Painted in vivid colors-- green, yellow, red, blue, black and white. There is a red border on all sides. The image is a standing figure of St. Raphael with an upraised sword in his right hand and a spear in his left. The spear has pierced the back of a whale. The image illustrates the following legend, "In Alexandria, Egypt, Satan caused a whale to burst forth to capsize a church and St. Raphael slew it." St. Raphael is one of the most important protectors of the Ethiopian Christian Orthodox Church. Translation of Ge'ez text on the painting: "Saint Rufa'el Archangel slaying the whale that tried to capsize the church." The painting is sized to fit a door and if used in a church, the canvas would have been plastered on one of the two doors leading into the sanctuary.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 13 Mar 2019
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Aksum, Tigre Province, Ethiopia, Africa
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Ethiopian
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2027713
label: USNM Number
content: E431932-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Painting
physicalDescription: label: Length
content: 195 cm
label: Width
content: 77 cm