Bete Giorgis/George

Bete Giorgis/George …The church is built in the shape of a cross. The floor, which is designed to have a shape of the cross, has a special carving on it. The entrance of the churches compound is the gate which is found to West but the biggest entrance is found to the East.

Bete Giorgis when viewed from the top, it appears like a huge cross which has not any room inside. Most of the people when they mention the name Lalibela the first picture that comes to their mind is Bete Giorgis.

Even those who have never been to Wollo, Ethiopia know Bete Giorgis for its image is used on postcards, calendars, T-shirts and many advertisements. Once you have seen it both form the outside the inside you will have no doubt that there is quite a relationship between the interior and exterior of this church.

Among the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, Bete Giorgis (the house of Saint George) is found Southwest of the village on a rocky ground. The temple is cross-shaped in its entire appearance. It has a very attractive structure than the rest of Lalibela’s rock-hewn churches. When Lalibela had finished constructing the churches Saint George riding on his white horse revealed to himself Lalibela and told him that there was no temple in his name.

Taking George’s word, Lalibela went to this rocky field and constructed this amazing temple. So, the priests of the church say.

The only way to this blessed place is an underground passageway. Entering the compound of the church one would see many small-sized caves in the walls of the compound. The inner parts of the caves are crammed with bones and skeletons of humans. Both in its design and carving there is no church which has equal quality with Bete Giorgis. And the reason for its incredible beauty, say the priests, was because Saint George himself looked after the construction daily. They even will show you the prints of the hoofs of George’s horse on the ground. Or even tell you the horse riding competition that had taken place between Lalibela and Saint George…

Shortly put, it has taken Lalibela, with the help of Angels, 23 years to finish building all the churches. The very reason for these churches to have been built was that people were dying on their way to Jerusalem every year. Some run out of food, others lost their way and some were attacked by beasts, on their way to Jerusalem. And it usually would have taken several months of tiresome travel to reach there. For these reasons, Lalibela felt that he must build the ‘the second Jerusalem’ in Ethiopia.

Tourists of any part of the world open their mouths in amazement when they first see these incredible churches. There are many untold beauties of these buildings. Better is for anyone to go and see and leave the judgement for the heart.

The interior of the room speaks how great the care was during the construction. The inner part of the roof is completely flat and smooth with no paintings except a few carvings. In every room the pillars have square bases which end in cross shape at the top. What makes them special is that they all have same width.

The windows are made of single piece of stones. They are meant to let some light come in to the room in the form of cross. Beautiful glasses are fixed with limestone in these spaces.

‘Afro Ayigeba’ which means ‘never been ashamed’ is the name of the cross which is believed to have come from the sky. It was stolen but was returned soon.

BeteMedhanealem was attacked and damaged by Gragn Ahmed in the 16 century.

Bete Medhanealem

Bete Medhanealem is to be found at your first visit to the 11 rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. The temple is carved out of a bright, huge stone that made it very attractive to the eyes. A lot of pillars stand supporting the entire building. But, some of them are replaced by cement for they were broken and fallen. There are 72 pillars supporting the building. 34 of them are from the outside while 38 of them are from the inside. Looking at the roof from the outside, one would realise that there is some relation in the appearance of the roof with what is called winged-roof.

…Except the roof the interior of the church is decorated with carvings of crosses. The absolutely flat, smooth and wooden doors have a special attraction to the eyes. Many of the beautiful decorations from the outside are destroyed.

Bete Mariam is a two story building with three doorways.

Each doorway has two pillars. Theses 6 supports are examples of the 6 gospels. Each of them has 2m and 45cm length and 36cm width. The doorways are 1m and 68cm length and 76cm width. The inside surfaces of the doors have much similarity with the Axumite creative works. The stairs that lead to the upper room is built inside the holy place. The length of which is 1m and 77cm. When you are close enough to the inner room of the church you will find one pillar covered with garment. This pillar is 7m and 58cm in length and 48cm in width. The pillar was covered by the high priest Zena of King Fasil’s time. The pillar is an example for one religion…

After finishing your visit to Bete Medhanealem, passing through a passageway under a cave, you will see Bete Mariam, Lalibela’s favourite temple. Bete Mariam is surrounded by other four churches from all sides. To the East is Bete Medhanealem, to the west is Bete Golgotha, to the South is Bete Denagil, and to the North is Bete Meskel. Among all the churches there Bete Mariam is given a special place by the priests and monks of all times. Perhaps, it is because this was the first of all churches that Lalibela built when he started constructing the churches. It is said that Lalibela would not spent a day without visiting this church. Even these days, among the Orthodox Christians of Ethiopia the church has special place. When any holyday comes the compound gets crowded here.

All of the relics in the church have a strong bond with Saint Mary being the true mother of Jesus Christ. Starting from the Western gate of the church, the floor has much similarity with the churches of Western world. Unusual creative works with many of Ethiopian churches are seen on the church’s western, northern and southern gates. A pool which is empty is found to the eastern wall of the church. Another pool filled with water is believed to heal many diseases. It is a solution specifically to those women who cannot give birth to children. The overall space on which the church rests on is 13x9.2x9.1 meters…

… The beginning of the earth and its doomsday is written on this pillar after Jesus Christ revealed himself to Lalibela and told him all. And the reason for its being covered with garment is to affirm that what is given

by God cannot be handled by humans.

Pictures that describe events from the Holy Bible are painted all over the walls. Events like when Mary went to see Elisabeth, when they exchange greetings; while Mary travels to the land of Egypt; when the Samaritan woman tries to fetch water from the well and when that lame man walks away carrying his neardeathbed are few among the many attractive paintings in the walls. All of them are painted during the 13th C. when Zera’yakob was the king of Ethiopia.