HISTORY

 The northern ethiopian town lalibela, one of the holieest site in the
country, is known worldwide for its medival monoliti rock- cut churches.
 Thought the dating if the church is not well
established, most are thought to have been
built duiring the region of king lalibela
during the 12th and 13th c.
 According to legend, angils helped
lalibela built this churches below
ground after he recived an order
from God to creat a new Jerusalem
in Ethiopia.
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The extraordinary architecture and
enjinering of the christian church of Lalibela
in northern Ethiopia, and their
remembereble history as the nucleus of the “
NEW JERUSALEM” place them amoung
the world’s great cultural, monuments and
religious shrines.
 he construction of ehich church was first
started by carving out wide trench on all
four sides of the rock, then painstakingly
chiselling out the interior.

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 CONS
 The labours only used hammers and disels for chislling and caving.
 The largest church is 12m high.
 There is a legend that tells how the churches were constructed. It is
written on a stone in bete Maryam, which is called “ SECREAT OF
THE BUILDINGS CONSTRUCTION”, only prists may look on it.
 Its belived that all the churches were constructed within a 100 years
period around 1200AD.

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 CONSTRUCTION METHOD
 There are three basic types of rock churches in Ethiopia
1. BUILT-UP CAVE CHURCHES;-  Makina Medhane Alem
 Ordinary structures inside a natural cave  Yemrehanna Krestos
2. ROCK-HEWN CAVE CHURCHS;-
 Cut inwards from a more or less vertical  Abba Libanos in
cliff face something using and widening Lalibela
an existiing natural cave.
3. ROCK-HEWN MONOLITIC CHURCHS;-
 Makina Medhane Alem
 A built up structure but are cut in one place
 Yemrehanna Krestos
from the rock and suppareted from it all
round by a trench.
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 Thecrches of Lalibela were not constructed, they were
excaveted.
 The construction of a moneletic rock church was in fact
an excavation, the procidure being to first cut free a
block of stone in the volcanic tuff, after which stone
masons chiseld out the church, shaping both the
exterior and interior.
 thhe roofs of the lalibela churches
are level with the ground and are
riached by stairs descending in to
narrow trenches.

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CHURCHES OF LALIBELA
4
1
2
6 5
3

7
12
8
9
10
11

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 FIRST GROUP
CHURCH LAYOUT
 The churches of the first
main group lie in their rock
cradles one behind the
other north of the Jordan.
 Bete Medhane Alem
 Bete Mariyam
 Bete Meskel
 Bete Denagel
 Bete Golegota and
 Bete Debresina

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 BETE MARIYAM

 Bete Mariyam is the central

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 The wider counteryard of Bete
Mariyam has a spettial place
on Lalibela, mainly because it
is used for the second dance
during christmas.
 Counteryard, there is a deep
rectangular pool, which is
locally belived to make barren
women fertile if they bathe
there and bet the blessing of
priest.
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 FIRST GROUP CHURCH LAYOUT
 From the exterior mouldings running horizontally around the walls,
three rows of windows better viewed from the out side.
 There are more than nine varieties of crosses including the
swastika.
 The upper rows of windows
are undecorated and
rectangular without any
fillings.
 The lower row windows are
decorated with a variety of
cross forms.
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 The three entrances at the west, north and south sides of the
church, giving a cruciform shape to the floor plan.
 Each porch has an almost flat roof, a double entrance between
round arches with corbels, a central pillar without base or capital,
and a doorway opning to the church.

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 The doorways exhibit an axumite framework style with carved
monkey-head corner.
 There are BAS-Relif figures above the western porch, at the main
entrance of the church.

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 It is the second work of Lalibela and the widest and the bigest of all.
 It is 11m high, 34m wide and 24m long.
 It has 72 pillars (34 inside and 38 outside), 52 windows, and 3
doors.

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 Its floor is black and brown coloured white its roof is red colou.
 A high courtyard surrounds it.
 The church is rectangular in shape, and is also the largest.
 It is perhaps the largest and widest monolitic Rock-Hewin church
in Ethiopia, even in the world.

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 the exterior walls are decorated with two rows of windows.
 the windows in the lovwer row are rectangular and fulled with
panels of pierced stone, each of which is ornamented with a central
cross
 generally, three unique features distinguish BETE
MEDHANEALEM.
 These are:
Its huge and impressive size,
The large number of pillars both inside and outside,
The five aisle plan

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 Bete Debre Sinai and Bete Golgotha are twin churches
 Both are semi-monolithic and separated by a wall, east of which is
folfotha and to the west is debre sinai. the win churches appear
from outside as one, and are usually referred to together by the
local people as bete michael. it is the third work of lalibela which is
situated below bete mariam ground level and attached to the
mountain, mame gedel, to its western and eastern parts.

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 it is a broad gallery of 11m length and 3.4m width
 on the facade there are two visible doors that imitate the Axumite,
monkey-head framework.
 there is also a third door in the northern face of the church

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 bete denagel, which is the fifth work of lalibela, located to the south
of bete mariam.
 it is a semi monolithic structure supported by four colums. to the
right of bete denagil, a subterranean way leads to holy water of bete
golgotha and its baptistery. since this part is filled with water, it is
closed with wooden door to protect people from falling in.

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 impressive in its simplicity, huge square block of stone stands in a
deep trench in front of the western face of bet golgota.This is the
tomb of adam. The block has been hollowed out, the ground floor
serving as the western entrance to the first group of churches. The
upper floor houses a hermits cell. Afain it is acroos that is the only
decoration of “Tomb”

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 this second group comprises from east to west, the churches and
sanctuaries of
- BET EMANUEL
-BET MERCURIOS
- BET ABBA LIBANOS
- THE CHAPEL OF BETLHEM AND BET GABRIEL-
RUFAEL

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 A one storey structure connected to the mountain and accessed by
wooden by bete rafael and bete fabriel are situated under one roof.
 it has short room height in relative to the others.
 its westrn
 gate takes to bete rafeal. travelling through the cave way, a gate of
wood which was during lalibel’s time is confronted.

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 bete gabriel is a church located between two trenches on the north
and south. the mnumental northern facade is very beautiful. it is
ornamented with ogival niches whose top shape is similar to the top
part of the Axumite stele.

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 near bete gabriel, there is a curved band of rock locally called “the
path to heaven” or “meferareja” as locally said. another important
part of the bete gabriel complex is a well and underground cistern
down in the courtyard.

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 the widest church, next to bete medehanealem situated in
connection to the encircling mountain of bete amanuael is his
seventh work, bete merkoroius.
 it is the most seriously damaged rock-hewn church in lalibela.
 some people think that it was not originally a church.
 this is because it is neither correctly oriented nor conventionallly
planned.

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 it is a cave rock-hewn church located southwest of bete amanuel.
 it is rectangular
 its roof is not separated from the rock but a kind of tunnel detaches
the other four sides.

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 his eighth work(lalibela)
 it has tree rows of windows, unlike the top and the middle ones, the
bottom row windows displays the axumite monkey-head frames,
and his cross-shaped openings.

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 30*24*15.7m facade from axum
 3 row of window
 8 columns
 barrel vault on nave upper floor

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 his ninth work
 it is the only purel monolithic and carefully hewn church of the
second group at the centre of a quadrilateral courtyard.
 it is a rectangular church.
 the external facade shows the axumite style of alternating recessed
and projecting stonework.

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 it distinctively crs shaped, is the lst work of lalibela
 the building is inside the cortyard which is perfortated by caves
holding remains of holy peoples.
 the nine windows in the bottom row are blind and imitate the
axumite “monkey-head” framework. it has three doors in the west,
north and south. the main entrance in the west is approached by
seven wide steps(representing the seven heavens)

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 the church is standing on a sort of three-stepped base, a relief of
three similar greek crosses inside each other decorates its roof. the
most interesting feature here is that the thickness of the wall
increases step by step downwards.

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 Generally, the stepped platform, the projecting corner beams in
doors and windows of the bottom row, and the tower-like
characters indicate the influence of axumite architecture on it.

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 influenced and refelect the architectural style of axumite
architecture, like
 monkey head frame
 the styles of windows(the rising sun)
 they also discovered how to adapt the topography of the location.
 good drainage system
 thetio based on david star proportion
 the golden ratio(best applied on bete medehanealem)

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 most of the windows in lalibela can be analyzed in terms of easily
understandable structural elements. When the decoration is purely
architectural it may consist of small columns with bases and
capitals joined by arches. The columns are mch smaller than
normal.

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 if only the vation is regarded, as will be the case when light through
the windows is observed from the interior side, these decorations
may create ‘key holes’ and other original shapes.

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 tunnels and passage ways connting the churches

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