Lalibela - I would never have imagined that it would be possible to carve churches into rocks...
- contatogilsonss
- Dec 9, 2024
- 3 min read
As incredible as it may seem, there is not just one, but eleven. All of them are active, with their interiors decorated and ready for visitors.
I am talking about the churches of Lalibela, a city in the Amhara province of Ethiopia. The eleven churches are located below ground level and were carved out of huge basalt rocks.
And, surprisingly, 10 of them are interconnected by ditches, tunnels and passages, very similar to a small city built only with stones, without bricks, cement or wood. A sanctuary of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The entire complex was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1978.
History tells us that the churches were built by order of King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela around the year 1185. There are no historical records about the construction, only legends. One of them says that the king wanted to build a New Jerusalem there, preventing his subjects from dying or going through dangers while making their pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Another story tells of the king being poisoned by his brother and while he was between life and death, he received an order from God to build the New Jerusalem in his domains. When he recovered, he followed the divine orders.
There are no exact records of how long it took to build them. The most faithful believe it took 23 years. Legend has it that the construction lasted only 23 years because angels worked at night while the employees rested.
Just imagine the work... Eleven churches, with decorated interiors, windows, doors, columns...
Scholars, when evaluating the styles of the churches, believe that they were built at different times, not believing in the 23 years, even accepting the help of angels.
Note below the location of the churches, and the tunnel or passage that connects them.
A little bit about each church:
Isolated on the west side of the city: 1) Bet Giyorgis (Church of Saint George). The most impressive of them all. It is the best preserved of them all. It has the shape of a Greek cross. According to legend, it was the last to be built.
In the northeast of the city: Bet Uraiel. Similar to a cave, and 5 more churches: 2) Bet Meskel (Church of the Cross). Dedicated to the 50 nuns murdered by the Roman governor Julian; 3) Bet Golgotha & Bet Mikael or Bet Debre Sina (Church of Mount Sinai). In fact, there are two buildings, which leads many to consider not eleven, but twelve churches; 4) Bet Maryam (Church of Mary); 5) Bet Danaghel (Church of the Virgins). It has the appearance of a chapel and 6) Bet Medhane Além (Church of the House of the Savior of the World). It is the largest church. Inside it has the Lalibela cross, in solid gold.
On the southeast side of the city: 7) Bet Amanuel (Church of Emmanuel). It is the tallest church in the complex at eleven meters; 8) Bet Merkorios (Church of Saint Mercury). It is the smallest carved church; 9) Bet Abba Libanos (House of Lebanons). It is carved in the shape of a prismatic block; 10) The Bet Lehem sanctuary, and 11) Bet Gabriel-Rugael (Church of Gabriel and Raphael). To reach it, one must cross a small wooden bridge over a well 10 m deep.
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