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Inside 'Africa’s Petra'
August 04, 2008 8:47 AM
By Dana Hughes, ABC News Ethiopia
When most people reference holy sites with fresco paintings and ancient carvings, they think of the Catholic Duomos in Italy or the Egyptian Pyramids or the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. But there’s another country which houses a holy site so beautiful and well preserved that it has been called one of the “Eight Wonders of the World” -- a country that is perhaps known more for famine than architecture: Ethiopia.
The population of Ethiopia is one of the most impoverished in the world, but the nation is also home to some of the oldest and most ornate Christian churches on Earth, constructed during the reign of Gebre Mesqel Lalibela. In Lalibela, 11 stone churches carved into mountainsides and dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries have been declared a UN World Heritage site. The presence of the churches is unusual in Sub-Saharan Africa, where much native architecture has been destroyed by centuries of colonialism and war (the churches were about 200 years old before they were known to Europe). I visited Lalibela while covering former President Bill Clinton’s visit to Ethiopia last week. He told the hundreds of villagers who gathered to greet him that he had wanted to visit Lalibela for years, and after visiting it myself I could see why.
Walk into any of the churches and you will see ornately painted frescos on stone ceilings, beautiful portraits of an Ethiopian-looking Jesus and his disciples. And the churches are not just monuments; they are actual churches, where Orthodox Ethiopians still worship. All visitors, even a former president of the United States, are expected to follow customary traditions. That means removing your shoes before entering the church (even if it’s rainy season and the ground is wet and muddy!) . Once inside there is usually a deacon, or holy man, who offers an explanation if you’re a tourist, or religious council if you’re a local.
The church, called Bet Gabriel-Rufael, is known as the “Way to Heaven” because of a massive carved cross-shaped roof. The entire church lies inside a crevice in a mountain. A cliff high above overlooks the church and the cross, and it is believed that the beauty of the cross facing the sky makes the church more holy.
Lalibela feels like you are frozen in time, and yet still very relevant. We didn’t just see the hundreds of years of history on the walls and ceilings, but could feel that it was sacred, even today. Alongside President Clinton’s delegation to Bet Gabriel-Rufael were women and men walking up mountainous terrain, some using walking sticks to go for worship. Visiting Lalibela is a common pilgrimage for members of Ethiopia’s Orthodox Christian Church, the country's official religion, which comprises more than half of the population. But for this foreigner, being able to witness such rich history and beauty in such an unexpected place, the privilege was all mine.
Photo Credit: Reuters
August 4, 2008 in Dana Hughes | Permalink | User Comments (1)
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your blog "Inside Africa's Petra" was interesting to read. Showing the rich history and culture of Ethiopia through the Lalibela churches is something I found moving. I hope we see more diverse reports about not just Ethiopia but other African countries.
Posted by: fekadu | Sep 8, 2008 1:52:02 PM
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