Atlas Entry

Lalibela

Date
12th–13th century CE
Country

Evidence type: Documented history

Eleven medieval churches hewn out of the living rock in the mountains of Ethiopia, attributed to King Lalibela’s plan for a “New Jerusalem”. Lalibela is still a place of pilgrimage.

Example: Biete Ghiorgis, the House of St George, carved in the shape of a cross and reached through trenches cut in the rock.