Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela

The eleven medieval rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, carved directly downward into the volcanic tufa of the Ethiopian highlands in the 12th and 13th centuries, form one of the great wonders of Christian architecture. Conceived by King Lalibela as a New Jerusalem so that his people would no longer need to make the perilous pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the monolithic churches were hewn as single blocks of living rock, complete with windows, doorways, columns and elaborate interiors, and linked by a maze of trenches, tunnels and drainage channels. The cruciform Church of St George (Bete Giyorgis) is the most famous, sunk into a deep pit and visible from above as a perfect cross. Still an active centre of Ethiopian Orthodox worship, Lalibela draws thousands of white-robed pilgrims, especially at Christmas and Epiphany. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1978.