CultureSub-Saharan Africa
The rock churches of Lalibela
Eleven churches cut downwards into the rock, not built upwards
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The complex was meant as a new Jerusalem after pilgrimage there became impossible during the crusades; a stream on the site is named the Jordan. The technique is subtractive — a wrong cut cannot be undone — and requires the whole building to be planned before the first blow. Ethiopia is among the oldest Christian countries in the world and remained independent throughout the scramble for Africa.
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In Ethiopia, craftsmen cut eleven churches straight down into solid rock, with roofs, windows and columns — all from one piece of stone. They are still in use as churches eight hundred years later.
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Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org