Lalibela, Ethiopia: The Jerusalem of Africa Carved from Stone

The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela were carved from the red volcanic tuff of the Ethiopian highlands in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, during the reign of King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela of the Zagwe dynasty. According to Ethiopian tradition, Lalibela was instructed in a vision to build a New Jerusalem in Africa after the fall of the original Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187, and the eleven churches he created — each carved from a single piece of rock, with their roofs at ground level and their walls descending into trenches cut from the living stone — are still in active use as places of worship today.

The churches are divided into two main groups connected by tunnels and trenches. The northern group includes Bete Medhane Alem — the House of the Saviour of the World — which at 33 metres long and 11.5 metres high is the largest rock-hewn church in the world, its exterior carved to resemble a conventional built church with columns and arched windows. The southeastern group includes Bete Giyorgis — the House of Saint George — which stands in a deep pit and is considered the finest of all the churches, its roof carved with three interlocking Greek crosses in a design of extraordinary geometric precision.

Bete Giyorgis is the most photographed of the Lalibela churches, and the view from the rim of the pit — looking down at the cross-shaped roof of the church 12 metres below, with the red rock walls rising on all sides — is one of the most striking images in African architecture. The church is still used for services, and on feast days the priests emerge in their white robes and colourful vestments, carrying ornate processional crosses and illuminated manuscripts, to conduct ceremonies that have changed little in eight centuries.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church, one of the oldest Christian denominations in the world, has maintained an unbroken presence in Lalibela since the churches were built. The priests and deacons who serve the churches are the custodians of a tradition of scholarship, music, and ritual that predates the European Reformation by centuries. The church's liturgical language, Ge'ez, is a Semitic language that has been used in Ethiopian Christian worship since the 4th century and is still used in services today, though it is no longer spoken as a vernacular language.

The town of Lalibela sits at 2,630 metres above sea level in the Lasta Mountains of northern Ethiopia, and the journey to reach it — by small plane from Addis Ababa or by a long drive on mountain roads — is part of the experience. The town itself is small and poor, with a population of around 20,000, but the churches draw pilgrims from across Ethiopia and tourists from around the world, and the local economy has developed accordingly. The best accommodation is in the lodges on the hillside above the town, with views over the churches and the surrounding mountains.

Ethiopian cuisine, served in the restaurants around Lalibela, is one of the great undiscovered food traditions of the world. Injera — a spongy sourdough flatbread made from teff flour — serves as both plate and utensil, with stews of lentils, chickpeas, and spiced meats piled on top and eaten by tearing off pieces of the bread. The coffee ceremony, in which green beans are roasted over charcoal, ground by hand, and brewed in a clay pot, is a ritual of hospitality that can last an hour and produces coffee of extraordinary quality.

The best time to visit Lalibela is during the dry season from October to May, when the mountain roads are passable and the weather is clear. The most spectacular time to visit is during the major Ethiopian Orthodox festivals: Timkat (Epiphany) in January, when the churches are the setting for elaborate processions and ceremonies that last through the night; and Genna (Ethiopian Christmas) in early January, when pilgrims from across the country converge on Lalibela in their thousands. These festivals offer an extraordinary window into a living religious tradition of great antiquity and beauty.