Lalibela ascends in Ethiopia

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The Zagwe king Gebre Meskel Lalibela took the throne and began rebuilding his mountain capital as a New Jerusalem, commissioning a dozen churches carved downward out of the living basalt bedrock. Several took decades to complete and still stand, carved from a single stone each. The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela remain active sites of Ethiopian Orthodox worship and one of the most extraordinary architectural achievements on the African continent.