94 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019DISCOVERIES
According to Ethiopi-
an tradition, the church-
es took only 24 years to
complete, as stonecutters
worked by day and an-
gels worked by night. The
buildings fall into two main
groups, one on each side
of the Yordanos (Jordan)
River. Each is connected
by underground passages.
The floor plans of the
churches are either basilic
or cruciform. The builders
used the geology to shape
their work, allowing the
roofs to have the same slope
as the surrounding moun-
tains to prevent flooding.
Geology also influenced
the placement of doors;
Orthodox custom advo-
cates placing a door at thewestern, northern, and
southern sides, but in some
cases, the terrain made that
impossible, and plans had to
be adjusted.Rock of Ages
Centuries after its con-
struction, Europeans who
came to Lalibela were over-
come with awe. In the late
15th century Portuguese ex-
plorers were investigating
medieval tales of a Christian
land that existed beyond the
Muslim world while search-
ing for a passage to India.
The Portuguese delega-
tion of diplomats were as-
tounded by what they found
in Ethiopia. One of them,
Francisco Álvares, gave an
eyewitness account in 1520.He breathlessly described
Lalibela’s churches, “the
like of which... cannot, as
it appears to me, be found in
the world.”
Soon after the publica-
tion of Álvares’s account,
Ethiopia came under Mus-
lim attack. In the 1540s the
Portuguese Cristóvão da
Gama led a force of 400 men
into Africa to protect it. Da
Gama’s army was accompa-
nied by a chronicler, Miguel
de Castanhoso, who also re-
marked with astonishment
on the rock-cut churches.
Da Gama was captured and
killed in 1542. Despite his
death, the displaced Ethio-
pian Christian rulers man-
aged, in the end, to take back
their lands.Today, the 11 rock
churches continue to in-
spire awe with their beauty
and marvelous engineer-
ing. Lalibela is home to
a large Ethiopian Ortho-
dox Christian community,
who have been a contin-
uous presence since the
complex’s creation many
centuries ago.
In 1978 the church com-
plex was recognized as a
UNESCO World Heri-
tage site. The rock-hewn
churches attract as many as
80,000 to 100,000 annu-
al visitors, including both
pilgrims who wish to wor-
ship and tourists who wish
to behold one of the world’s
greatest wonders.
—Irene CordónBIETE MEDHANE ALEM (House of
the Savior of the World), Lalibela, is
believed to be the largest rock-cut
church in the world.
DAVE STAMBOULIS/ALAMY/ACI