The Travelling Teacher: Ethiopia – The Wonder of the World Built by Angels

December 30-January 1

Hello everyone!

Welcome to what Ethiopians call the Eighth Wonder of the World.

The Church of St. George, Lalibela

Pilgrims praying at a mass service, which started at 5:30am

This is Lalibela, a pilgrimage site for Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. A short flight north from Addis takes you up to 2,600 metres above sea level, to a village famous for its churches which are in excess of 800 years old.

A Bombardier, the way to travel quickly across Ethiopia

Bete Medhane Alem, one of the larger churches

To the unknowing eye, these places of worship look intriguing and impressive. To those who know how they were created, they are simply staggering.

The contrast between the church and the rock its etched from

A combination of the Jewish Star of David
and the Orthodox cross

Before construction started on these eleven churches during the time of King Lalibela, the area where the churches stand was rock. All rock. These churches were chiselled out of the soft tufa rock which is found in the hills of the village.

This church is rumoured to be King Lalibela's house when he was alive

The larger churches are protected from the weather
by large roofs, which are an unfortunate eyesore

Unlike most buildings, which are built from bottom to top, these pretty intricate designs were started from the top. The rock was gradually chiselled away into the shape of a church. They then carved the inside so that there were rooms inside this rock. The best comparison I can think of is if you have a block of wood and you remove parts of it to create a sculpture. In this case, the ‘wood’ is the soil of our own planet.

Bete Maryam - Church of St. Mary

The designs inside the churches are incredibly
complex considering their construction

The result is that you can stand on the original rock and look down into parts of an underground system of buildings which seems fairly unique. The northern cluster in particular look like an early indication of town planning, with tunnels and narrow pathways etched between them. Many of the churches are monolithic, meaning that they are free-standing and independent of any support from the sides by the original rock. Some, such as the two below, are in excess of 15 metres tall.

Some of the churches have been renovated
recently, as shown by the newer pillars

This is a rock-hewn church, meaning
you can walk all around it

Others are semi-monolithic, meaning that they can be walked around but are supported from the roof. This one, called Bet Abba Libanos, looks a lot like the world-famous Petra in Jordan. As soon as I saw it, I thought of Indiana Jones.

This church is built into the rock, with the back wall and
roof supporting the carved structure

Bete Abba Libanos, which reminded me
of Indiana Jones

What adds to the aura of Lalibela is that these churches are all actively used on a daily basis. Even when staying two kilometres away from the two sites where the buildings are found, a person can wake at sunrise to the sound of chanting or lecturing. This is a live exhibition of the Ethiopian Orthodox religion.

Pilgrims with whiter robes are generally from towns,
with the off-white robes belonging to people from the countryside

Lalibela also showcases a religious passion which seems to have disappeared from much of Europe. The unstinting belief of the stories behind the churches and their creator, King Lalibela, shows complete dedication to their religion. The SparkNotes version of the story is that King Lalibela went to Jerusalem and was told by God to build these churches in a particular place to create a ‘New Jerusalem’. No US Embassy in sight, by the way. Lalibela returned and then built most of the churches in 23 years. Depending on who you listen to, he was helped by up to 40,000 men…or angels.

King Lalibela is the third King, with the green robe

Replicas of the Ark of the Covenant are
behind the curtains - only priests can see it

Understandably for a place of pilgrimage, everything has a religious link. Many of the churches have nine windows, reflecting the number of saints worshipped in Orthodoxism. Most have four pillars inside, one for each Orthodox evangelist. Some have eyes carved into the pillars to represent the vision of the angels. The trenches from the northern and southern clusters join to make the Jordan River.

A carving of an Orthodox saint

This is a fertility pool - women have to be lowered
in with a rope as it's quite deep

One which I really enjoyed was the ‘Tunnel to Heaven’. You start at the bottom of a narrow opening and carefully tread upwards into pitch-black darkness: ‘hell’. Only being guided by putting your hands out to the sides (and above your head if you’re reasonably tall), you trek through the claustrophobic passageway for about forty metres before seeing a shaft of light: ‘heaven’. Many believers will start hollering ‘ai-ai-ai-ai’ when they emerge into the light, next to another church.

Looks fine with a camera flash - in reality, this
was complete darkness

Pilgrims would holler loudly as they rise from the tunnel

There are many other legends and tales about Lalibela, many of which have been contested by academics. What they do, however, is add to the mystique and atmosphere of the village. This is particularly poignant at the moment as many pilgrims are flocking to Lalibela from across the country, often hundreds of kilometres by foot, to worship, learn and celebrate Genna on January 7^th: Ethiopian Christmas.

Apparently, this cross wasn't made, instead
being given to Lalibela by God

Pilgrims were sleeping in the open in large groups

With little more than their white (or off-white if from the countryside) robes, a Bible and a smile, the pilgrims – many of whom seem to be of pensionable age – wander around the churches, kissing the walls and muttering prayers.

This will be full as Genna approaches

Pilgrims massing around the Church of St. George

Lalibela is at its most spiritual in the early morning. On Sunday, each church hosts a 5:30am mass for two hours, before priests start teaching. With more and more pilgrims arriving in the run-up to Christmas, it makes for a memorable atmosphere, with people of all ages squashed into the churches or listening intently in the grounds or on the hills above, all bound by their common faith. On the Monday, everyone flocked to the most photogenic church, the symmetrical, cross-shaped Bet Giorgys (House of St. George).

Most can't fit inside the church so have to stand outside

Modern technology has obviously permeated the Orthodox church...

Waking up for the latter was a challenge as I had been celebrating Western New Year’s Eve the night before. This crazy design is actually a restaurant called Ben Abeba, a Scottish-Ethiopian adventure which possesses stunning panoramas of the valleys way below.

Ben is Scottish for mountain; Abeba is Amharic for flower

Sitting by the fire, where we listened to local musicians
while eating tablet & shortbread

We had taken a tuk-tuk to the restaurant. After a brief chat with the driver, he asked if any of us wanted to drive. I thought he was joking…

Tuk-tuks are easy to drive - apparently it's just like a moped

The real driver kept suggesting I was driving too fast...

Lalibela is an incredible place, particularly with so many pilgrims arriving to add to its air of spirituality. I still can’t get my head around how these rock-hewn churches were carefully carved out of the rocks which you can stand on metres away. I can certainly see why it’s sometimes said to be the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’.