📷 Estella · Pexels
Where in the world
Ethiopia
Lalibela
Medieval Ethiopian · Ethiopia
Field notes
- civilizations
- Medieval Ethiopian
- types
- Village
- occupied
- 1,137 CE — 1,300 CE
- country
- Ethiopia
The site
Lalibela is a medieval Ethiopian town in the Amhara highlands, famous for its rock-cut monolithic churches carved from the living stone rather than built up. Traditionally credited to the Zagwe king Gebre Meskel Lalibela, the churches are widely read as a symbolic representation of Jerusalem. Perched around 2,500 metres above sea level, Lalibela remains one of Ethiopia's holiest cities and an enduring center of Christian pilgrimage.
