Lalibela

Lalibela is an ancient African city located on the heights of the Ethiopian massif at 2,500 meters above sea level.

In very remote times the population was called Roha and it was not until the12th century AD. that name was changed to the current denomination.

The name Lalibela with which it is known today, comes from the Ethiopian emperor Gebre Mesqel Lalibela of the Zagw dynasty who at the end of the 12th century had refounded the city and laid the foundations of a new religion.

Gebre Mesquel Lalibela was an Ethiopian political and religious leader who had visited Jerusalem at a time when this city had been destroyed by the Muslim occupation (1187 AD). Upon returning to his native country he tried to build a New Jerusalem in Ethiopia to replace the one that had been destroyed.

At present it has about 15,000 inhabitants and is an important religious function in Ethiopia. It has numerous temples, thirteen of which are monolithic, that is, sculpted in the rock. There are also several ancient monastic communities and thousands of pilgrims come to them during the ceremonial festivities.

Due to its unique churches carved into the stone the city of Lalibela was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1978. 

The temples, which are connected by tunnels, passages and trenches, were designed according to the model that Gebre Lalibela observed in her trip. In the construction of the city names similar to the old Jerusalem of Palestine were used and even the channel that crosses the site is called Yordanos, considered a symbolic representation of the Jordan River.

The pilgrims who come to the city walk a traditional route that begins in the place where a cross is raised, also monolithic. The main temple is known as Medhane Alem. With 20 meters high, 15 meters wide and 8 meters deep is the largest monolithic church in the world. While it looks like an ancient Greek temple its Jewish roots are reflected in the Star of David carved inside the ceiling.

A young priest explained: "Thousands of workers worked during the day and at night the task was continued by a squadron of angels who excavated three times more than the workers themselves."

From the book "Chronicles of the Human Peripecie", D. Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones