Lalibela

Lalibela is a highland town in northern Ethiopia celebrated for eleven monolithic churches hewn from living rock in the 12th and 13th centuries, a feat attributed to King Lalibela who intended the site as a New Jerusalem for Ethiopian pilgrims. The churches are divided into two clusters connected by a tunnel, with Bete Giyorgis — a cross-shaped structure sunk into a cruciform pit — considered the finest example of the form. Ethiopian Orthodox pilgrims throng the site at Timkat and Genna, creating one of Africa's most visually immersive religious spectacles.