HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: The magnificent St George Church
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Still feeling under the weather
WORD OF THE DAY: Dr Zeme
We had arranged to meet our Lalibela guide at 9am this morning. Like in Gondar the day was going to be broken up into 2 sections. This morning we were going to visit the Northern Group of churches including Bet Medhane Alem, home to the Lalibela Cross and believed to be the largest monolithic church in the world, probably a copy of St Mary of Zion in Aksum. It is linked to Bete Maryam (possibly the oldest of the churches), Bete Golgotha (known for its arts and said to contain the tomb of King Lalibela), the Selassie Chapel and the Tomb of Adam and in the afternoon we were going to visit the Eastern Group: Bete Amanuel (possibly the former royal chapel), Bete Merkorios (which may be a former prison), Bete Abba Libanos and Bete Gabriel-Rufael (possibly a former royal palace), linked to a holy bakery. This was going to be a highlight day for me.
The 11 medieval monolithic cave churches of this 13th-century 'New Jerusalem' are situated in a mountainous region in the heart of Ethiopia near a traditional village with circular-shaped dwellings. Lalibela is a high place of Ethiopian Christianity, still today a place of pilgrimage and devotion. The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela are exceptionally fine examples of a long-established Ethiopian building tradition. Monolithic churches are to be found all over the north and the center of the country. King Lalibela is believed to have commissioned these structures with the purpose of creating a holy and symbolic place which considerably influenced Ethiopian religious beliefs.
Lalibela is a small town at an altitude of almost 2,800m in the Ethiopian highlands. It is surrounded by a rocky, dry area. Here in the 13th century devout Christians began hewing out the red volcanic rock to create 13 churches. Four of them were finished as completely free-standing structures, attached to their mother rock only at their bases. The remaining nine range from semi-detached to ones whose facades are the only features that have been 'liberated' from the rock.
The Jerusalem theme is important. The rock churches, although connected to one another by maze-like tunnels, are physically separated by a small river which the Ethiopians named the Jordan. Churches on one side of the Jordan represent the earthly Jerusalem; whereas those on the other side represent the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of jewels and golden sidewalks alluded to in the Bible.
It was King Lalibela who commissioned the structures, but scholars disagree as to his motivation. According to a legendary account, King Lalibela was born in Roha. His name means 'the bee recognizes its sovereignty'. God ordered him to build 10 monolithic churches, and gave him detailed instructions as to their construction and even their colours. When his brother Harbay abdicated, the time had come for Lalibela to fulfill this command. Construction work began and is said to have been carried out with remarkable speed, which is scarcely surprising, for, according to legend, angels joined the laborers by day and at night did double the amount of work which the men had done during the hours of daylight. Like more episodes in the long history of this country, there are many legends about this king. One is that Lalibela was poisoned by his brother and fell into a three-day coma in which he was taken to Heaven and given a vision of rock-hewn cities. Another legend says that he went into exile to Jerusalem and vowed that when he returned he would create a New Jerusalem. Others attribute the building of the churches to Templars from Europe. In one of the churches there is a pillar covered with cotton. A monk had a dream in which he saw Christ kissing it; according to the monks, the past, the present and the future are carved into it. The churches are connected to each other by small passages and tunnels.
After a 5 minute drive our first group of consisted of 6 rock churches, some of them massive. We had to get security checked and frisked (there are female guards for women) before getting to the ticket office where you pay your entrance fee and filled in a form with age, address and passport information. To the side of the ticket office there is a small museum that contains some relics like crowns, priest gowns, manuscripts, and even wooden models of the churches that were made when planning their construction.
Of the six churches that belong to this group, Bet Medhane Alem (Church of the World Savior) is the biggest one and also it is said to be the biggest rock hewn church in the world. It is also the oldest of all of them. The building is massive and it has 34 columns on the outside and 38 on the inside to support the roof. Some of the outside columns are replicas of the originals that collapsed a long time ago and you’ll notice the difference easily. Some of these churches have been covered by a roof to protect them from the elements and preserve them for future generations. The structure built in 2008 by UNESCO is hard to avoid when taking photographs of the outside, I wish they had come up with a better solution as it didn’t look so great in the pictures, but I can understand why they have done it. Bete Medhane Alem is the biggest rock hewn church in Lalibela, which housed King Lalibela’s Processional Cross (Afro Aygeba). It is the only rock hewn church with external pillar. There is the replica of the tombs of Abraham Isaac and Jacob whose original tombs are in Hebron in Israel. The church was built from the top down for the exterior and when they had completed that the internal was built from the bottom to the top. An amazing feat and all of the 4 churched were built within a 24 year period. Considering they were using primitive tools, to get such perfection out of the stone is mind blowing and up there with the ancient city of Petra in Jordan and the pyramids in Egypt.
Every time you step inside a church, you must take off your shoes. The floor is covered with old rugs that make the walk much smoother but you can still feel the rocky floor beneath them. These rugs were famous for being infected with fleas, but it seems they have eliminated them once and for all. When you enter the church you are inside the hole where it was built, so you are too close to the structure. From that point of view it is hard to appreciate the whole volume of it, but it is a really extraordinary work of art. No matter your religion, the church has values beyond beliefs. It is extremely important from many points of view, as architecture, art, history and culture, and I hope it can stand the test of time. You can take pictures inside the church, but they don’t allow the use of flash because the light damages the paintings.
As it was a Sunday and the holy day for the churches so there were more local people around. When we entered Bet Medhane Alem there were a lot of people sitting around and they seemed to be waiting for something. Abby, our guide explained that on Sundays The Lalibela Cross comes out. The Lalibela Cross
(or Afro Ayigeba) is a large, elaborately decorated processional cross, considered one of Ethiopia's most precious religious and historical heirlooms. It is held by the Bet Medhane Alem, the House of the Redeemer of the World. A priest may rub believers with the cross to bless them or heal them. The style of the cross was common in its time and those of this style are often simply referred to today as "Lalibela crosses."
The cross is thought to date to the 12th century. It is around 60 centimeters long and weighs around 7 kilograms. It is made from one piece of metal, either gold or gold and bronze. The central cross has an elongated descending arm and flared ends surrounded by an elaborately ornamented encircling band. Like many Ethiopian processional crosses, the bottom of the cross is supported by "Adams arms," a motif that realistically or abstractly portrays the arms of Adam. In processional crosses they draped with brightly colored pieces of cloth for festive occasions.
The cross was stolen in March 1997, but located in Belgium in 1999. A dealer in Addis Ababa had sold it to a Belgian collector for US$25,000. After the collector's money was returned, and it was agreed that no further action would be taken, the cross was returned to Ethiopia in 2001. So to see one of Ethiopia's most precious religious and historical heirlooms was pretty amazing and to see the people circling the priest waiting for their turn to be rubbed by this cross was mesmerizing. Abby said you could take photos but I feel so bad intruding into something so special and so religious so I gave my camera to Zeme and got him to take the photos instead. There were some German tourists that seemed to have no decorum and were snapping and flashing away without any concerns. It makes me a little mad, but I got some photos, just because I didn’t take them myself doesn’t make me any better I suppose.
So to briefly list this morning’s churches. Bete Mariam is 1st church to have been carved by King Lalibela and it is the only church with porches and the pool of fertility with a depth that has same measurement as that of the height of St. Mary’s Church. It has internally a pillar by the name “Amde Birhan” (The Pillar of Light), which has lots of Mystery. A rather pretty church thought to be the first one built in Lalibela. We were told that the pillar (pictured bottom right) is supposed to have been touched by Mary and hence it is covered up - the guide books say it's because it's inscribed with the 10 Commandments. There is a Star of David on the arch – which is very rare in a Christian church, even an Ethiopian one.
Debre Sina and Golgotha is a twin rock hewn church where we can find the tomb of King Lalibela, there is also engraving of the apostles in relief on the interior walls of the church. The depiction in engraving of Christ’s birth to Ascension, which is engraved in relief and there are plenty other mysterious depictions and symbolisms as well. The tomb of Adam with Calvary cross on it is also carved and shown as a main Entrance to the Northern Group of Churches.
The Tomb on Adam, just when you are leaving the complex was pretty impressive. It’s a small room carved in the rock that symbolizes the tomb of Adam and to leave it you need to cross a sort of door/arcade that leads to a trench that takes you out of the group of churches. The door is best seen from above once you step down the rock stairs. At the end of the trench there are a group of huts that are not in use anymore, but that are preserved as part of the church complex.
Our last church part of the group and the only one not connected by underground passages but it is the most famous and photographed church I believe. The Church of St. George (Amharic: Bete Giyorgis) is one of eleven monolithic churches. Carved from the rock in the early thirteenth century, it is the most well-known and last built of the eleven churches in the Lalibela area, and has been referred to as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". The dimensions of the complex are 25 meters by 25 meters by 30 meters, and there is a small baptismal pool outside the church, which stands in an artificial trench.
According to Ethiopian cultural history, Bete Giyorgis was built after King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela of the Zagwe dynasty had a vision in which he was instructed to construct the church; Saint George and God have both been referred to as the one who gave him the instructions. The church itself is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela" and which symbolizes the Ark of Noah.
I’m not sure why but there were no other people at The St George Cross, so we got some amazing pictures with just the church and not a single soul around. You descend down to the church through alleyways that have been cut into the rock to find yourself gazing up at this piece of amazing history. I do need to mention that the inside of most of the mornings churches are a little to be desired, you would think there would be more, I don’t know, pizazz for want of a better word, but they have been pretty much kept to their original state, so you wouldn’t expect bells and whistles in the 13th century.
What a great morning and we were back at the hotel by 11.30am. We had lunch and a rest to get out of the hottest part of the day and then Abby came back for us at 3pm to see another section of churches in the eastern part of the city. These churches were just as impressive as the morning’s ones. To think of how this was done over 700 years ago is really hard to comprehend. So with 6 churches this afternoon the scariest part for me was we passed from one church to another through a tunnel that was 25m long and had no light source at all. Abby told us it was flat and to stick to the left and we would be fine. It was so dark I closed my eyes and re-opened them and it made no difference. It was ink black. I just had Zeme’s hand to hold and Abby’s word it was flat. You could hear my sigh of relief when there was literally some light at the end of the tunnel. It was a little more hard going up and down steep stone cut steps at times, but I always had a hand at the ready to help me, I was just hoping we didn’t have to go back the same way which thankfully we didn’t. All the churches of the day had a presiding priest who sits there and reads from the Bible. It is written in Gizz, which is an ancient Ethiopian language and only holy people and priests know how to read this old language. Abby said even after 10 years of study he can’t read a lot of it as it is really hard to learn even though they use the same characters of the current Amharic language. The masses are also recited in Gizz, so they have to stop at intervals and translate what is being said for the people.
So to briefly summarize the afternoon’s churches. Bete Amanuel is the only monolithic rock hewn in the southern group of churches in Lalibela and it reveals the secret of the 7 heavens, it has recessed and projected wall form, which is an influence of an Axumite Architecture, which can also be seen on the Obelisks in Axum. It is the pen-ultimate work of King Lalibela. Bete Merkorios is partially collapsed because of earthquake, which had happened in the 16th Century. It symbolizes Paradise and we were unable to go inside, but it was still pretty impressive from the outside. Bete Abba Libanos, is a cliff side rock hewn church, which symbolize Cherub and Seraph who carry the throne of God in the heaven who eternally praise the creator God. Bete Gebriel and Rufael is a twin rock hewn church, which symbolize hell and the road to heaven. There is underground water reservoir, which symbolize hell and the road to heaven known locally as “Meferareja”.
We emerged from the opposite side that we entered and when I looked over my shoulder there was just a rock face with vegetation on it. You would never have guessed that there were 6 churches on the other side. It really was an incredible day and one that will be marked as my WOW days. It was certainly worth the drive to get there and definitely glad we came. Payment for Abby for the whole day was 15AUD. I feel so bad knowing what a tour guide would have to be paid in the western world, but this is the going rate and as usual we gave a tip as he was very good.
Zeme went out late in the afternoon to refuel and get snacks for the long drive tomorrow to Kombalcha. When he came back he reported there was a fuel shortage in Lalibela as there is only 1 petrol station and there has been no truck from Addis to refill the pumps, so we were only allowed to have 10L and as a favor he gave Z an additional 5L. We are going to try again tomorrow on our way out of town, but we have enough to get us to one of the next major towns and fill up there. I tried to have an afternoon sleep as I am still feeling quite nauseous. It is a horrible feeling and hope that I can shake it in the next few days. Dr. Zeme is now keeping an eagle eye on me and giving me lots of water and making sure I am warm, no beers and soup for dinner was just what I needed.
So I enjoyed my time in Lalibela and if you ever make it to Ethiopia you HAVE to get to this town.
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