The unique character of Ethiopian art is the legacy of its situation high in the mountains, on the Horn of Africa. Though remote and often isolated it evolved a tradition in response to contacts with Byzantine, European, and Islamic cultures. Beginning in the twelfth century, elaborate crosses were cast and engraved in iron and bronze. Painted and carved icons were produced in a tradition that reached its peak at the end of the seventeenth century. Above all it is richly illustrated manuscripts which have provided the most defining expression of Ethiopian Christianity.