Gorgora

Gorgora (Amharic: ጎርጎራ Gōrgōrā, also, especially formerly, ጐርጐራ Gʷargʷarā, modern pronunciation Gʷergʷerā) is a town and peninsula in northwestern Ethiopia. It is located south of Gondar on the north shore of Lake Tana, in the Semien Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region. Gorgora has a latitude and longitude of 12°14′N 37°18′E / 12.233°N 37.300°E / 12.233; 37.300.

Gorgora refers to a small peninsula jutting into Lake Tana as well as to a small village hosting a harbor. The peninsula was important in the past as the site of an important Jesuit residence: "Old" Gorgora was located 5  km northeast, inland from Maryam Gimb, which was called [New] Gorgora, and 5  km west of Debre Sina and its churches (usually not considered a town in its own right). Other notable landmarks include the monastery of Mandaba, located at the headlands of Gorgora peninsula. Robert Ernest Cheesman visited Mandaba in 1932 and described the monastery as being enclosed by a high wall and no woman is allowed inside its gate. There are 150 residents, monks, the monastery is governed by an Abbot who has the power of putting refractory monks in chains, and is all powerful in his own monastery. Cheesman was told that if a man fleeing from justice rings the monastery bell and is given sanctuary, he is safe from even the highest person in the land.