In the town of Axum in the province of Tigray is the most significant church in Ethiopia: the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion. The Church claims to have had in their possession the Ark of the Covenant, or a wooden chest housing the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were scribed, for the past 3,000 years.
According to a traditional story found in the Glory of the Kings (Kebra Negast), Menelik I was born unto the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. Menelik later went to visit his father and returned to Ethiopia with the firstborn sons of Israelite nobles, one of which secretly stole the ark. The royal son accepted that since no harm had come their way, it must have been God's will.
Virgin monks commit to living exclusively on chapel grounds for the remainder of their lives once anointed, and are assigned as guardians of the Ark. No one else has ever laid eyes on it, contributing to difficulties in confirming or disproving the claim.
