It is located at about 2km to the north east of the palace compound, in the outskirts of the city. Its construction is attributed to Iyasu the Great. It has been said that Iyasu the Great was planned to bring the Ark of the Covenant to this church from Axum. Access to the church is through a large two-storey square tower that rises from the compound wall. The bottom of the tower has two arched doorways, each with a large painting of an archangel. There are a number of conical towers in the high wall of the church compound and some of which are still used by priests as residence and for prayer.

The church is a rectangular in shape and built from the same materials as used for the prominent castles, The corrugated iron sheet now replaces the original thatched cover. However, there is a small thatch cover on the top of the roof. Its ceilings are decorated with the paintings of many wide-eyed images of winged angels in traditional Ethiopian artistic style. The walls of the church are also adorned with paintings that depict biblical features including the Holy Trinity, the life of Christ on earth, of St. Mary and the Saints and Martyrs. It is the only Gonderine Church that survived the attack of the Mahdists in 1880s.