For 1,000 years Christian pilgrims traveled to the rock hewn churches at the holy site of Lalibela. The eleven churches were sculpted over centuries. The best known, the church of St George is shaped like a crucifix.
Lalibela’s churches are monolithic, carved from the mountain so that they are completely detached, each is made from a single block of rock.
The largest is House of Medhane Alem.
Some of the interiors of the churches are decorated with striking friezes of biblical scenes and bas-reliefs.
Archaeology Study Unit 