At a glance

Lalibela (the most precisely Lalibela single 11 rock-hewn churches Bete Giyorgis Bete Medhane Alem 12th 13th century Zagwe Dynasty King Lalibela New Jerusalem Timkat Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity living church UNESCO heritage: the basic concept: unlike most ancient churches which are built upward from the ground, the Lalibela churches are carved downward into the basalt rock (the technique called rupestrian or rock-cut architecture); each church is carved from a single mass of rock by removing all the surrounding stone while leaving the church form intact; the churches range from simple caves to the magnificent free-standing monoliths (entirely detached from the parent rock on all four sides) of Bete Medhane Alem and Bete Giyorgis; the 11 churches (traditionally counted as two groups: the Northern Group (7 churches) and the Southern Group (3 churches), plus the isolated Bete Giyorgis (to the southwest); the groups are connected by subterranean passages and trenches; the churches are still in active daily use by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (the church has been in continuous use since their carving; the priests maintain daily liturgical practice)); the pilgrims (Lalibela receives approximately 100,000+ Ethiopian Orthodox Christian pilgrims annually; the Ethiopian Christmas (Genna; January 7 CE, Ethiopian calendar) and Timkat (Ethiopian Epiphany; January 19 CE) draw the largest pilgrim gatherings; the sight of thousands of white-robed pilgrims crowding into the church trenches at dawn for Timkat is one of the most powerful religious spectacles anywhere in the world) — the most precisely Lalibela single 11 rock-hewn churches Bete Giyorgis Bete Medhane Alem 12th 13th century Zagwe Dynasty King Lalibela New Jerusalem Timkat Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity living church UNESCO heritage in any UNESCO world heritage site)).