Lalibela rock churches venerated

1285

A generation after their carving under the Zagwe dynasty, the monolithic rock-hewn churches of Lalibela were already places of pilgrimage for Ethiopian Christians. The new Solomonic dynasty claimed them; monks tended their trough-like drains; worshippers walked the underground tunnels. The eleven churches, each carved from a single block of volcanic tuff, represent one of the most extraordinary feats of architecture in the medieval world.