Lalibela

Named after the king and Saint who built the rock churches here in the twelfth century, Lalibela welcomes 100,000 pilgrims for Christmas (Jan 7), which is also the saint’s birthday. There are 800 priests/church employees in the town.

Lalibela was the second of four kings in the Zaduit dynasty.

Unlike the Tigre churches we visited, the churches here are low down, chiselled out from top to bottom. This is especially noticeable in the Church of St George, whose roof is near ground level.

Group 1 churches

After visiting the museum, we entered three of the five churches in the group:

• Biete Medhani Adam (Saviour of the World)
• Biete Mariam
• Biete Golgotha Mikael

Biete Medhani Adam

Remarkable for its 72 pillars, this is one of the four monolithic churches. It collapsed in a 17th century earthquake, and was badly restored in 1954. A”Bethlehem” where bread and wine are prepared for the Eucharist was carved into the rough rock facing the church.

The original decoration was geometrical, with cross-shapes in the windows.

The paintings, including this Saviour of the World, are more recent.

A tunnel leads from this church to Biete Mariam.

Biete Mariam

Biete Mariam (St Mary’s) has frescoes painted directly on the walls and ceiling, like the picture of the arch below.

The upper storeys are not in use, but priests chant the Christmas liturgy overlooking the church.

Biete Golgotha Mikael

A double, or triple, church. Women are only allowed into the first section, dedicated to the Archangel Michael. They are excluded from the Golgotha chapel, for some reason connected to Mary Magdalene’s behaviour at the Resurrection of Jesus, and of course from the Holy of Holies where the replica Ark of the Covenant is housed.

We left the church down a staircase.

Group 2 Churches

After lunch, we visited three churches in Group 2:

• Gabriel and Raphael
• Amanuel
• Abba Libanos

Gabriel and Raphael

A three-storey church, but due to flooding and serpage, only the top is used for worship. Typical of churches dedicated to archangels is an ikon depicting the three holy children in the roaring fiery furnace (Daniel).

Several priests were praying here when we went in.

Here is the doorway.

Biete Amanuel

This cruciform church is the only monolithic one in Group 2. The Portuguese visitor Alvarez in 1520 admired the attention to detail in the carving. A priest in colourful robes posed for us.

Biete Abba Libanos

Our last visit in Group 2 was to a very narrow church, built out from the rock face in front, and chiselled out in the back. The wall was not strong enough to support the ceiling.

There are two famous paintings there, one of Abba Libanos (below) and one of the wife of King Lalibela.

Biete Ghiorgis: St George

The last church we saw in Lalibela was also the most distinctive, with its cross-shaped roof level with the surrounding land.

It is noted for analogies with Noah’s ark: rushes (similar to those people carried at Timkat) to represent the olive branch; lower windows closed to keep the animals safe, while upper ones were open; any wavy patterns for the floodwaters. The top two metres are solid rock.

Pilgrims often slept in caves in the rock facing the church, one of which was found to contain a skeleton dating from the 13th century.

Of course, there was an ikon of St George.

Several of us asked the priest for a blessing, and he touched his cross to our foreheads and mouths.

Finally, a hilltop monastery

The next day was one I had viewed with apprehension: a mule ride and a tough walk, to the hilltop monastery church of Asheta Mara, named for the village of Asheta, which in its turn was named from the fragrance of burning incense.

I didn’t enjoy the mule ride. My boots seemed too big to fit into the stirrups, and when we passed close to rocks I was worried about catching my foot against them and throwing the mule off balance. To keep my mind off the possibility, I sang almost all the way up, sometimes hymns but also drinking songs.

The walk upward OK, finishing with a tunnel between two rocks to emerge at the courtyard between our destination and another church. Ours was King Lalibela’s first attempt, and he had thought of building all his churches up here. But the combination of cold weather, thunderstorms and unstable rock led to be abandon the building, which was finished by his nephew Nakatola. The monk who showed us round said that he had been down to the village for Christmas, but it was difficult to walk down in his long robes.

We also found the journey down difficult, slipping on the loose stones of the surface, and I balked at the idea of a steep downhill mule ride, choosing to walk part of the way instead.