Morija
Coordinates: 29 ° 38 ′ S , 27 ° 30 ′ E
Moriah [ morid͡ʒɑ ] is a place in District Maseru in Lesotho . The first Christian missionary station under Moshoeshoe I was established in Morija .
geography
Morija is about 40 kilometers south of the capital Maseru, a little east of Main South One, the main road to southern Lesotho. The place is 1,663 meters above sea level and is surrounded by rugged sandstone mountains in the north and south . The tree population is quite dense within the village. Matsieng is six kilometers to the east .
history
In 1833, at the request of the head of the Basotho , Moshoeshoe I , the first French missionaries of the reformed Société des missions évangéliques de Paris reached the country and founded the country's first Christian mission station in Morija under Eugène Casalis , Thomas Arbousset and Constant Gosselin. They named the place after Mount Moria, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem . Two sons of Moshoeshoe I, Letsie and Molapo, went to school here from 1833. In 1843 Gosselin had a house built that still exists today and is the oldest house in Lesotho. In 1847 the construction of today's church began. In 1858 a large part of Morijas burned down in the Senekal War , whereupon Letsie founded the place Matsieng ("The place of Letsie's people"). There or around the chiefs and kings of Lesotho to date have their headquarters. 1861 was printing Moriah Printing Works inaugurated that exists to this day and prints mainly religious literature and textbooks in 50 languages. In 1938 the Scott Hospital was established as a hospital for the south of the Maseru district. From 1868 Morija owned the country's first teacher training center, the Lesotho Training College, which is now a high school . The branch of the Société des Missions Evangéliques de Paris became the Lesotho Evangelical Church and finally the Lesotho Evangelical Church in Southern Africa , whose seat is Morija and which is one of the most important churches in the country.
Infrastructure
Economy and Transport
The paved Main South One runs immediately west of Morija. After Matsieng the east a tarmac road also leads. Morija can be reached by buses and shared taxis .
Education and culture
There are several schools and the Morija Museum and Archives in Morija. The museum opened in 1956, is a national museum and shows, among other paleontological exhibits and objects from the time of Lifaqane and the Boer War . The archive contains documents from 1826 onwards.
The Arts & Cultural Festival took place annually from 1999 to around 2014 , in which the culture of the Basotho was presented. In 2011 the Maeder House & Morija Arts Center (MMA) opened.
Personalities
- The writer Thomas Mofolo lived here from 1894 to 1900.
- Letsie III. (* 1963), King of Lesotho, was born here.
Web links
- Website Moriah Museum & Archives (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ David Ambrose : The Guide to Lesotho. Winchester Press, Johannesburg / Maseru 1976, ISBN 0-620-02190-X , p. 146.
- ↑ Morija's story at www.lesothoemb-usa.gov.ls (English), accessed on January 13, 2017
- ^ A b David Ambrose: The Guide to Lesotho. Winchester Press, Johannesburg, Maseru 1976, ISBN 0-620-02190-X , p. 147
- ↑ Arts & Cultural Festival , accessed on January 13, 2017