Morija

- 29.63111111111127.505833333333Koordinaten: 29 ° 38 ' S, 27 ° 30' E

Moriah [ morid͡ʒɑ ] is a place in the district of Maseru in Lesotho. In Moriah, the first Christian mission station was established under Moshoeshoe I..

Geography

The place is about 40 kilometers south of the capital Maseru just east of Main South One, the main road to the south of Lesotho. The place is located 1663 meters above sea level and is surrounded to the north and south by rugged sandstone mountains. Within the place of trees is quite tight. Six kilometers to the east is the town of Matsieng.

History

Reached in 1833 at the request of the king of the Basotho, Moshoeshoe I, the first French missionaries of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society reformed the country and founded under Eugène Casalis, T. and C. Gosselin Arbousset the first Christian mission station in the country Moriah. They named the place after Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Two sons Moshoeshoes I., Letsie and Molapo, went to school here in 1833. 1843 was Gosselin build a house, which today exists, and is the oldest house of Lesotho. In 1847 started the construction of the present church. 1858 burned a large part Morijas from Senekal in the war, after which the place Letsie Matsieng founded ( " The place of Letsies people "). There, or in the environment, the upper Häupl Inge and kings of Lesotho until today have their headquarters in 1861, the printing of Moriah Printing Works was inaugurated, which exists to this day, especially religious literature and textbooks printed in 50 languages ​​. In 1938 the Scott Hospital was founded as a hospital for the south of Maseru District. Moriah had in 1868 the nation's first training school for teachers, the Lesotho Training College, a high school is today. From the establishment of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, the Lesotho Evangelical Church, was the seat of Moriah and the among the most important churches of the country.

Infrastructure

Economy and Transport

The paved Main South One runs immediately west of Moriah. After Matsieng in the east also a paved road. Moriah is reached by buses and taxis.

Education and Culture

In Moriah, there are several schools and the Moriah Museum and Archives. The museum was opened in 1956, is considered as a national museum and shows, among other paleontological exhibits and objects from the period of Lifaqane and the Boer War. The archive contains documents from 1826 on.

Every year since 1999, instead of the Arts & Cultural Festival, in which the culture of the Basotho is presented.

Personalities

• The writer Thomas Mofolo lived here from 1894 until 1900.
• Letsie III. (* 1963 ), King of Lesotho, was born here.