Lalibela

Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela

Lalibela is a town in northern Ethiopia. Lalibela is one of Ethiopia's holiest cities, second only to Aksum, and is a center of pilgrimage for much of the country. Unlike Aksum, the population of Lalibela is almost completely Ethiopian Orthodox Christian. Lalibela was intended to be a New Jerusalem in response to the capture of Jerusalem by Muslims, and many of its historic buildings take their name and layout from buildings in Jerusalem.

Located in the Semien Wollo Zone of the Amhara ethnic division, or kilil at 2,500 meters above sea level, Lalibela has a latitude and longitude of 12°02′N 39°02′E. Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, the town has an estimated total population of 14,668 of whom 7,049 were males and 7,619 were females. The 1994 national census recorded its population to be 8,484 of whom 3,709 were males and 4,775 were females.


Lalibela is often referred to as Africa's Petra or the new Jerusalem because of its numerous, hardly credible churches hewn into solid rock some 800 years ago. Craftsmen initially dug vertical trenches into the red volcanic rock leaving a solid rock in the middle which was then chiseled out from the inside to create a freestanding church inside a well of solid rock. At left is shown Bet Giorgios, shaped like a Greek cross. 13 of these churches exist in the town and various others lie in the surrounding hills.

The interior of each church are each quite different, some with elaborate wall murals, others quite simple, all with remarkable wall paintings done in Byzantine style, all with ancient illuminated manuscripts and priests holding their ceremonial staffs suitably adorned with a cross. Carved into the outer walls of some of the churches live ancient monks, like the man on the right, who spend their lives reading and chanting the scriptures.

During the reign of Saint Gebre Mesqel Lalibela (a member of the Zagwe Dynasty, who ruled Ethiopia in the late 12th century and early 13th century) the current town of Lalibela was known as Roha. The saintly king was given this name due to a swarm of bees said to have surrounded him at his birth, which his mother took as a sign of his future reign as Emperor of Ethiopia. The names of several places in the modern town and the general layout of the monolithic churches themselves are said to mimic names and patterns observed by Lalibela during the time he spent in Jerusalem and the Holy Land as a youth.

Lalibela is said to have seen Jerusalem and then attempted to build a new Jerusalem as his capital in response to the capture of old Jerusalem by Muslims in 1187. As such, many features have Biblical names - even the town's river is known as the River Jordan. It remained the capital of Ethiopia from the late 12th century and into the 13th century.