Ethiopia Trip: Lalibela North Complex + St George Church

The North complex at the site consists of several churches joined by tunnels. It's built with more verticality, so there's a section where a tunnel and courtyard are overtop another church.

 

You begin the tour by going down a set of carved stairs to see the largest church on the site: Bet Medhane Alem (Saviour of the World). In terms of the site being a replica of the Earthly Jerusalem, this one represents the tent of the Ark of the Covenants. A second site interpretation that our guide pointed out was that the site was the body of Jesus, with this church acting as the head. 

The southeast corner pillars are joined by small pieces of rock with crosses carved in them, symbolizing the Trinity. Many of the exterior pillars have been replaced. The original ones would have been directly carved out of the rock like the church proper.

There's amazing alignment between the inner and outer carvings. In the north aisle near the altar are 3 'tombs'. It's unclear whether they're the actual tombs of Sidi Meskal and two of his companions or if they're symbolic and are meant to represent Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Above the curtain sectioning off the main sanctuary is an arch with some symbolic disks representing the shields and crown of King Lalibela.

A short tunnel opens out into a very large courtyard. There are three pools of water (for baptisms and healing), two small churches carved into the walls, and a central church: Bet Maryam.

The church on the north wall is Bet Masqal (House of the Cross) and has a cross carved into the ceiling. It represents the right hand of God. The four pillars dividing the gallery into 2 aisles represent the 4 evangelists.

The church on the south wall leads to another channel through which you can access the site. It is Bet Danagel (House of the Virgins). It represents the left hand of God and/or the Christian virtues of faith and love. Records show that it existed in 1280 and may have been made for a community of nuns, so it's more humble that some of the other buildings.

Bet Maryam represents Gethsemane / the body of Christ. It was likely founded by King Lalibela as a royal church and is richly decorated inside. Outside the east wall has symbolic windows. The top row of three represent the Trinity. The central three read vertically are for the resurrection, incarnation (womb of Mary) and crucifixion. The bottom set read horizontally has Christ crucified in the middle. On the right is the thief who went to heaven (represented by the T shaped window above) while on the left is the thief who did not repent (with the T below indicating he went to hell).

It is also the only church in the complex to have porches. Above the west porch is a bas relief carving of two figures on horseback. There's dispute over who these represent but one theory is that one of them is a king and the other is St George.

Inside most of the ceiling and arches are painted. There are crosses, two headed birds, some religious icons (including Christ with the woman at the well pictured below). There is also a pillar said to be carved with prophecies explaining the history of the world to the end of time. It is kept covered with a white cloth.

 

To the west of this is a series of small caves that included Lalibela's tiny library and study (according to our guide). Apparently Lalibela was a tall man, as the stairs were built at two sizes, one for him and one for regular people.

From here you go down into the complex to the combine lower church of Bet Mikael (formerly Bet Debre Sina aka Mount Sinai) and Bet Golgotha. These churches represent the legs of Christ. Bet Mikael has cruciform pillars with relief carved crosses and eyes on them.

Bet Golgotha represents the Holy Sepulchre and only men are allowed inside, though the priest was nice and let the women stand at the doorway and take photos. My guide was also kind enough to go in and take some photos for me. This is the only church in the complex with life sized carvings of people in wall niches. There's also a painting of a woman beside one of the figures (one source said it was St Mary, another that it was St Cyriacus's mother. St Cyriacus was martyred as a child and is the labelled figure next to the painting). The Selassie chapel mentioned on the floor plan above is closed to the public.

Outside the churches is another tunnel with a large stone that was once a hermit's cell now called the Tomb of Adam. Above it you can see a window in the stone. This was the proclamation window of King Lalibela, where he could address his subjects.

A little south of this site lies the only single church at Lalibela, Bet Giyorgis. It's a masterpiece of carving with attention given to water runoff. Our guide said that the building represents the Ark of Noah, with the bottom floor only having false windows, the second none, and the third having 12 that open for the dove to return. There's a... hill... at the rear of the courtyard that he said symbolized Mt Ararat.

It's also one of the few churches where the access route hasn't been modified (you go down two slanted corridors). Near the bottom of the second corridor are holes in the wall said to be from the horse of St George who confronted King Lalibela over the fact that none of the churches were dedicated to him. King Lalibela promised that he would get the finest church. And it is a fine church. It's also the only one where the Italians haven't put up ugly massive covers (the covers protect the sites from the weather but were built so close to the structures there's fear that they have damaged the foundations. The French government is currently surveying the site to see if a different protective covering can be installed). The baptismal pool was full of reeds (and dragonflies!) but is still a working church as our guide and driver were both baptized here as children.

Ethiopia Trip: Lalibela South Complex

This area was originally called Adefa (or Arafa?) and was established as a local fiefdom in the 7-8th century. When the Zagwe kings made it their capital during the 12-13th centuries they renamed it Roha.

King Lalibela reigned from 1181-1221 (according to one calendar, see my previous post for more information on the Zagwe rule and the difficulties of dating things). The complex and town are now named after him.

The 11 church complex is actually two complexes and one stand alone church. The first complex people tend to visit is the northern one, which is later and so will be examined tomorrow. The south complex is now a series of churches but archaeologists believe it may have originally been built as a palace, given the odd alignment of the buildings (churches are usually on an east-west axis that is missing in many of these) and some of the features.

King Lalibela ruled during the period when the Holy Land (ie, Jerusalem) was conquered by the Muslims. Pilgrimage was already challenging since the kingdom no longer had a port on the Red Sea. Now it was dangerous. Legend states that King Lalibela was poisoned by his brother and while in a coma he saw a vision telling him to build a new Jerusalem. This site is therefore seen by many as an Earthy Jerusalem (the north complex) and a Heavenly Jerusalem (the south complex). The religious belief is that all of the churches were carved out of the rock in 23 years due to angels working on it at night. Historians in the books I read aren't certain how long it took, but don't think they were all done at the same time considering the quality/skill of some of the churches compared to others.

The first churches of the south complex you visit on the tour are the combined Gabriel-Raphael. You cross a small bridge to get to them. The churches inside are fairly small. Historians believe this may have been a royal palace or perhaps the palace of the Abuna (Patriarch). In the 'Jerusalem map' it's considered the 'road to Heaven'.

This complex has a number of channels for walking and for funnelling water away from the site. You take one to get inside the next church, Bet Lehem. Our guide, who grew up in Lalibela and whose father was a priest at one of the churches, said that he played here as a child.

Bet Lehem means 'house of bread' and some believe it's where the Eucharistic bread was baked. The numerous holes in the upper wall seem to bear that out. 

From here you take a tunnel to the next church. Symbolically the tunnel represents hell and is to be walked without light. You put one hand on the wall, and the other on the ceiling and walk slowly through the 35m (book said 35, guide said 41). It's quite disorienting as you're convinced you can see light ahead. The tunnel curves and descends a bit as you walk.

You come out at Bet Merkurios, or purgatory. The day we were there it was a feast day for St. Merkurios so we couldn't get many photos. We went back the next day to better see the inside. One window is shaped like a cross, and seen from the right angle you get a beautiful bokeh effect. This building is very oddly shaped. Ankle shackles were found here which has led some to believe that it might have acted as a prison or courtroom. Part of the building has collapsed, so it's not as large as it used to be.

Through a short tunnel and down some stairs and you come to Bet Emmanuel, Paradise. This is a free standing monolithic church 17.5m x 11.5m and 11m high. It is finely carved, with the inside and outside lining up perfectly to look like an Axumite building (with alternating stone and wood layers). Inside there is a double Axumite frieze in the nave.

Outside there are chambers in the walls (this is true of many of the churches with large courtyards) that act as graves for pilgrims. In some cases the caves are inhabited by pilgrims (if there's a blanket hanging across the entrance). The final church in the complex is reached via an outside tunnel.

Bet Abba Libanos is the only church here where the ceiling and floor are still attached to the rock. It represents cherubim (angels) supporting the throne of God. The edge of the interior pillars are carved with angel eyes. Legend says it was built by King Lalibela's wife in a single night with the help of angels. It is also believed to be the final building carved out at this site.

 

Just outside the complex is the "Jordan river" with a cross to mark where Christ was baptized. During the rainy season it would have water in it.