Ethiopian Marvel
Lalibela - time stands still at the rock hewn churches in Ethiopia
I was introduced to Ethiopia while flying to South Africa. It was
an adventure as I flew Ethiopian Airlines for the first time. I was told that
if the connecting flight takes off, before I reach Addis Ababa, I would be
offered a stay in the capital with sight seeing thrown in, all for free. I became a fan of Ethiopian Airlines - the aircrafts are new, offer great connections and have wonderful soft-spoken crew.
When I flew to South Africa for the second time - again on Ethiopian - curiosity creeped in. The meal on the connecting flight to
Johannesburg was ethnic – offering injera, the spicy chicken wot, veggies,
lentil wot all to be washed down with the famous Ethiopian coffee. Ethiopia
seemed like a country waiting to be explored.
A little bit of browsing threw up the cross-shaped church at Lalibela that was
built out of one massive mountain called the St. George's church. It was like a magnet.
I visited Lalibela soon! It was nothing short of
a miracle to be invited to see the country.
Lalibela – the new Jerusalem
About an hour’s flight from the capital, Lalibela is a quiet town
situated 1200 metres above sea level, with a stark landscape that has it’s own
charm. It was a beautiful drive from the airport
to the churches. I purchased some Lalibela crosses from some humble shepherd’s
wives. Later our vehicle climbed up the winding roads, we came across a
populated village and our guide informed us that these were families who have
been relocated from the church premises. Lalibela was named after the king who ruled in the
12th century and he was responsible for building the churches.
My visit to the churches
It is difficult to even imagine the sheer magnitude of the
churches as we enter the UNESCO world heritage site. The complex is protected
under a mammoth metal canopy, a few metres away, the panorama unfolds. A gigantic
structure is visible, below the hill!
Eager to explore, I walk down the rough steps
watching my feet as it’s tricky and just look up at the church that stands
inside the caved in mountain. Huge pillars hold up the roof and small windows
were cut into the thick walls of stone to let in light. I walk around the
structure and ss our guide Asefa explained the long history associated with
orthodox Christianity in Lalibela, we listened and I asked him if we could
enter the church. Yes, we can but we have to remove our footwear, hats or caps
and make sure that we are decently dressed.
Dark, a bit musty it seemed like time had come to a standstill. We
remove our shoes to enter the holy space; it’s dark, quiet and musty. Huge
carpets are strewn over the floors and long curtains adorn the altar. A priest
in white robes bows his head down in prayer. We are lucky as our guide tells us
that he will bless us with the Lalibela Cross if we like, and we can photograph him too.
The cross is quite big, elaborately decorated, with a circular design.
It seems that the circular style of
the cross was a common design during the 13 th Century and the name stuck as
"Lalibela crosses".
I learn that Lalibela was built to resemble New Jerusalem for the
benefit of Africans who couldn’t travel to faraway Israel in the 10th
century, not that they didn’t try, they died while crossing the desert and the
Muslim invaders under the Aksum empire stopped them from visiting the Holy
Land.
The massive soft pink pillars that have turned brown over the
centuries, crumbled but were re-created as they crumbled during the vagaries of
nature. The large stone pieces stand next to the church, mute spectators of
tourists.
Without any engineering knowledge, the craftsmen and ‘builders’
made sure the site was a sloping one so that the rain water would flow into a
channel. King Lalibela built these
churches under the ground level to protect them from the crusaders, who were on
a rampage to destroy catholic churches all over Europe and Africa.
Today the locals living in the area have been relocated to
shanties a few kilometres from the protected area. They used to live in very
unique yet picturesque round houses with a thatched roof built with local red
stone called Lasta Tukuls, the houses had an internal staircase.
Till date Sunday
services are held inside the churches. As we walk out, we walk through
trenches, moats, courtyards, all connected to each other by a maze of tunnels,
making it seem like a walk back into centuries. The complex is vast and there
are a couple of smaller churches and a good 500 metre walk takes visitors to
the most famous and most photographed church of St. George. It has a
cross-shaped roof that is visible at the road level and one needs to walk down
at least 20 feet to access the church.
Totally amazed, I
am dazed at the beauty of the churches and how they have stood the test of time
over centuries. We walk back to our vehicle, visiting a tiny stall that sells
rough clay reproductions of the St. George’s church and some cute clay hens that
are handmade.
As we leave
Lalibela the next morning, I feel totally blessed at having visited this sacred
site.
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