Hewn stone

Lalibela, in northern Ethiopia, is famous for monolithic rock-cut churches. The town offers testimony to the medieval and post-medieval civilization of Ethiopia and is one of the countries holiest cities and a centre of pilgrimage. Ethiopia was one of the earliest nations to adopt Christianity in the first half of the fourth century, and its historical roots date to the time of the Apostles. The population of Lalibela is almost completely Ethiopian Orthodox Christian. The churches themselves date from the seventh to thirteenth centuries. The layout and names of the major buildings and features of the town are widely accepted to be a symbolic representation of Jerusalem e.g. The River of Jordan, Calvary and Tomb of Adam (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalibela). The 11 medieval monolithic cave churches of this 13th-century 'New Jerusalem' were carved out of rock. Their building is attributed to King Lalibela who set out to construct in the 12th century a ‘New Jerusalem’, after Muslim conquests halted Christian pilgrimages to the holy Land. We visited five churches north of the river (Biete Medhani Alem (House of the Saviour of the World), Biete Mariam (House of Mary), Biete Golgotha Mikael (House of Golgotha Mikael and Biet Debre Sina (Virgin Mary and Jesus)) as well as Biete Ghiorgis (House of St. George) which is isolated from the others, but connected by a system of trenches. This gigantic work was complemented with an extensive system of drainage ditches, trenches and ceremonial passages, some with openings to hermit caves and catacombs. Biete Medhani Alem, with its five aisles, is believed to be the largest monolithic church in the world, while Biete Ghiorgis has a remarkable cruciform plan. These exceptional churches have been the focus of pilgrimage for Coptic Christians since the 12th century and were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/18).