Introduction to Lalibela: Rock-Hewn Churches of Ethiopia

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Author/Creator Phillipson, David W. Publisher Aluka Date 2007-05 Resource type Aluka Essays Language English Coverage (spatial) Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, Lalibela Source Aluka

http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.CH.DOCUMENT.ae000107

http://www.aluka.org Introduction to Lalibela: Rock-Hewn Churches of Ethiopia

David W. Phillipson

The small town of Lalibela, high in the mountains of northern Ethiopia, is one of the most important pilgrimage places of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It boasts no fewer than 11 of the exceptional rock-hewn churches that are the most remarkable monuments to have survived from medieval Ethiopia. The place takes its present name from the pious King Lalibela, who reigned around A.D. 1200, and to whom creation of all the churches is traditionally attributed. Recent research, however, suggests that the churches were created over a much longer period, and that they demonstrate strong continuity between the civilisations of ancient Aksum and medieval Ethiopia.

There are numerous rock-hewn churches in Ethiopia, notably in the northern highlands, and the tradition has continued into recent times. The Lalibela examples are exceptional, both because of the sophistication of their design and craftsmanship, and because the proximity of several examples permits the establishment of a sequence. They are carved inside and out from soft volcanic rock and their architecture is extremely diverse: some stand as isolated blocks in deep pits, while others have been cut into the face of a cliff.

The huge task represented by the cutting of these churches and their associated trenches, passages, and tunnels during the reign of a single king is explained by the church as the work of angels who worked so fast that all the churches are said to have been completed within King LalibelaâÚªs quarter-century rule. New research offers a different explanation and it can now be argued that the oldest of the rock-hewn features at Lalibela may date to the seventh or eighth centuriesâÚ”about 500 years earlier than the traditional dating. These first monuments were not originally churches, although they were subsequently extended in a different architectural style and converted to ecclesiastical use. Later, perhaps around the 10th or 11th century, the finest and most sophisticated churches were added, carved as three- or five-aisle basilicas and retaining many architectural features that may be traced back to ancient Aksum, which had flourished some 400âÚ“800 years previously.

The last phase of LalibelaâÚªs development that may be dated to the reign of the king whose name the place now bears. The church complex was extended and elaborated during King LalibelaâÚªs quarter-century rule. Several of the features attributed to this last phase bear names such as the Tomb of Adam or the Church of Golgotha, which mirror those of places visited by pilgrims to Jerusalem and its environs. This naming has extended to natural features: the seasonal river that flows though the site is known as Yordanos (Jordan) and a nearby hill is called Debra Zeit (Mount of Olives). It seems that it was King Lalibela who gave the place its present complexity and form in an effort to make it a substitute for Jerusalem as a place of pilgrimage. It may be significant that, early in King LalibelaâÚªs reign, the Muslim Salah-ad-Din (Saladin) had captured Jerusalem, and for this reason Ethiopians may have felt disinclined to make the traditional pilgrimage to the Palestinian Holy Land.

Today, a cloth-draped feature in the Church of Golgotha is pointed out as the Tomb of King Lalibela. It is not known whether this attribution is original or whether pilgrimage to this tomb was a later development. Be that as it may, Lalibela remains to this day a major Ethiopian pilgrimage centre, and an increasingly popular tourist destination.

The one church at Lalibela that does not form part of an interconnecting complex is in many ways the most remarkable. This church known as Beta Giyorgis (The House of [Saint] George) and may belong to the most recent of the phases now recognised. It rises from the bottom of a roughly rectangular pit approximately 11 metres deep, and is approached by an entrance trench some 30 metres long. It is cruciform in plan and stands on a high stepped plinth. The lower windows, carved according to the Aksumite pattern, are all false and do not penetrate into the churchâÚªs interior. The higher windows, one central to each face, are in a distinctive style. However, when viewed from the inside, they do not appear central because no account was taken for the thickness of the wall, thus demonstrating that the design was based primarily on external appearances.