RAS GHIMB

Located on the outskirts of the walled city, this well-preserved fortified castle features rounded turrets and high crenellated walls. It has been open to the public and converted into a museum since 2017. It is said to have been built in 1650 by a military officer of Emperor Fasilidas, Ras Walda Giyorgis, who made it his home and married the emperor's daughter, Eskenderawit. But the castle is best known for having been the imperial residence of Haile Selassie, who stayed here only five times in twenty-five years, but invited Queen Elizabeth II to visit in 1965. Sadly, the castle met with an unfortunate fate, as it was used as a torture chamber by the "Butcher of Gondar", military officer Melaku Tefera, during the Derg's red terror campaign between 1977 and 1979. Convicted of 971 murders and sentenced to death in 2005, his sentence was converted to life imprisonment in 2011. The castle remained closed until 2017, when it was reopened as a museum with the cooperation of the French Center for Ethiopian Studies.

The museum. The collection on the first floor includes the torture room under the Derg, preserved as a memorial to the many people who died or suffered severe abuse there. The general history of Gondar is also on display. On the second floor: in impeccable period style, the rooms of Emperor Haile Selassie and his wife Menen, with period furniture and objects. Finally, a staircase leads up to the emperor's study, with a single view of the city and the fields. We advise you to take a guide.