While You Tour in Lalibela village you will see the mountainous landscape of the region of Lasta, where the peasants labor to cultivate their patches of stony fields with the traditional hook-p lough. Strolling across a gently undulating meadow, you will suddenly discover in a pit below you a mighty rock - carefully chiseled and shaped -the first rock church. None of these monuments of Christian faith presents itself to the visitor on top of a mountain as a glorious symbol of Christ’s victory, to be seen from far away by the masses of pilgrims on their road to the 'Holy City', they rather hide themselves in the rock, surrounded by their deep trenches, only to be discovered by the visitor when standing very close on top of the rock and looking downwards.
King Lalibela of the Zaghwe dynasty built a series of eleven rock hewn churches, carved into the rugged mountainsides. The churches are carved below ground level and they are ringed by trenches and courtyards and connected to each other by a tangled maze of tunnels and passages. In size and scope, the church complex feels like a subterranean village. These churches are, and what they have been for at least 800 years, an active Christian shrine, and the spiritual centre of a town's religious life. Lalibela would rightly be celebrated as one of the wonders of the world.
Tour to Lalibela mainly includes the churches divided in three main groups, one on each side of the river Jordan and one other church set apart from the rest. The town of Roha-Lalibela lies between the first and the second group of churches. It is situated on the higher part of a mountain-terrace on a vast plateau of rock. The most spectacular of which is Bet Giorgis (St. George's). Located on the western side of the cluster of churches, it is cut 40 feet down and its roof forms the shape of a Greek cross.Unlike some of the other churches, St. George's is plain inside. A curtain shields the Holy of Holies, and in front of it usually stands a priest displaying books and paintings to visitors. In the shadows of one fo the arms of the cruciform church is its tabot, or copy of the Ark of the Covenant. One explorer was allowed to open it and found it empty. No one was able to tell him what happened to its contents.
In the "Northern Group" across the main road from St. George, the most notable church is Beta Medhane Alem, home to the Lalibela Cross and believed to be the largest monolithic church in the world. It is thought to be a copy of St. Mary of Zion in Axum.
Bete Medhane Alem is linked by walkways and tunnels to Beta Maryam (St. Mary's), possibly the oldest of the churches. In the east wall of the church is an array of geometric carved windows in a vertical line. From the bottom up is: a Maltese cross in a square; a semi-circle shape like that on the Axum Stelae ( Axum Obelisk); a Latin cross; and a simple square window.
The windows illuminate the Holy of Holies in which the church's copy of the Ark is placed. Other decorations include a Star of David combined with a Maltese cross, a Sun with a smiling human face flanked by eight-spoked wheels, Mary on a donkey accompanied by Joseph, and an Annunciation.
Next to Beta Maryam is Beta Golgotha, known for its artwork which includes life-sized carvings of saints on the walls. It is also home to the tomb of King Lalibela, over which stands a gold-draped Ark. The Western group is completed by the Selassie Chapel and the Tomb of Adam.
The "Eastern Group" includes:
- Bete Amanuel (possibly the former royal chapel);
- Bete Merkorios (which may be a former prison);
- Bete Abba Libanos; and
- Bete Gabriel-Rufael (possibly a former royal palace), linked to a religious bakery.
There are also several other churches in the vicinity: including the beautiful built up cave church of Yimrehane Kristos Church (from 11th century), the tiny rock church Arbatu Entzessa, Bilbala Gioris,Asheton Maryam, Nakuto Laab Cave Church , Genete Maryam and Much More .
At TIMKET (Ethiopian Epiphany. ca. January 19) a vivid ritual unfolds before the spectator: here the dances of the priests take place after the annual repetition of mass baptism in the river Jordan.
