Lalibela

As I’ve claimed explicitly and implicitly before, Ethiopia is a land where the boundaries between fantasy and reality are blurred; where story-telling and legend inform history; where tasks appearing impossible dot the historical record. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Lalibela.

Dubbed the Petra of Africa, this fly-infested, poverty-stricken, isolated, barren village is home to one of the most amazing Ethiopian (and African) treasures: Lalibela’s rock-hewn churches. Literally carved into the volcanic rock, the 11 churches of the town – formerly known as Roha – were emperor Lalibela’s crowning achievement. The emperor lived between 1185 and 1225 A.D., ruling over what was known as the Zagwe Dyansty.

Legend has it that Emperor Lalibela, a profoundly devout Christian, dreamt one night of a new Jerusalem carved into the rock, where pilgrims could come and pray in peace. Armed with the help of God, a willing, motivated people and angel’s work over the night (yes, the story says that while the human masons slept at night, angels worked), Lalibela finished his 11 churches in 23 years! The result will leave
you speechless.

The churches are of three kinds: freestanding (completely detached from the rock); partially freestanding (ceiling still attached to the rock, but main body freestanding); and completely attached (the church seems to “grow out of the rock” – the rooms are carved inside the rock). All of them are made out of one piece – one rock – with workers simply chiseling their way into it and creating walls, columns
and chapels.

The most impressive of the 11 churches is dedicated to St. George (the guy who killed the dragon… even the beer here is called St. George). The church’s floor plan is shaped like a cross. It has three floors, and according to our guide, symbolizes Noah’s Ark. It’s reddish walls (all the rock here is reddish) is lavishly adorned and inside one finds a finely decorated (some decorations date back to the 12th
century!) chapel.



Other churches that I found especially interesting and attractive were the House of Mary, Emmanuel’s House and the House of Gabriel – Rafael. The first is especially beautiful, its decorations even finer than the rest. Not surprisingly, it receives the most pilgrims out of any of the churches. Emmanuel’s House is a partially freestanding church, its ceiling attached to the rock and some of the most amazing crosses (one of them made of wood – usually they’re made of gold). Finally, what attracted me most about the House of Gabriel – Rafael was the moat-like trench guarding its entrance. We had to cross a little bridge to reach the entrance to what historians think may have been an Aksumite palace before becoming a church.