The Yemrehane Christos monastery Ethiopia

the church

This is the continuing story of our pilgrimage to Ethiopia in search of the Ark of the Covenant. 
It has been organised by McCabe Pilgrimages who do this kind of thing rather well.

Today we have driven out from Lalibela to take time out from visiting the incredible rock hewn churches there, to visit instead the free standing church of the monastery of Yemrehane Christos.

shopping for Lalibela crosses

There are 195 steps up to the Yemrehane Christos monastery - set high up in the most incredible isolation. Some of the steps are very steep - many are shallow - and the walk up is really not too bad if you are reasonably fit and take it steadily. And it takes us through very beautiful Juniper forest - alive with a great variety of birds. 

It was a little too hot for some (take plenty of water) and at this high altitude - 2700 metres - some with breathing problems could not make it and have to take time out under the shade of a large tree near the bottom of the trek.

always beautiful scenery

But the charming little village settlement just below is a friendly place to linger, with plenty of shopping opportunities for souvenirs and places where the traditional coffee ceremony can be enjoyed. And the scenery as ever is stunning.

cheerful shop keeper - beautiful woven scarves

Once we are inside the rather ugly modern outer wall at the cave entrance, we are astonished by the Axumite style church building, of alternate layers of wood and granite, with white gypsum, giving the appearance as described by Bradt of "a gigantic layered chocolate cream cake." This is more than a century older than the Lalibela rock hewn churches. 

It has some fine architectural features and was an important place for pilgrimage in medieval times - they came from as far afield as Syria, Egypt and Jerusalem for the curative water and to die here and there is an enormous pile of bones at the back of the cave - said to represent more than 10,000 of these Christian pilgrims.
I receive a blessing from the priest in the church - a rather special experience...

See also the World Monuments Fund write up for this site. 

note cave setting of monastery buildings

priest at Yemrehane

There are so many medieval monasteries and churches that can be visited around this area East of Lalibela including a trio of rock hewn churches around Bilbilla, well worth a visit and at least for the time being, said to be much quieter than the much better known Lalibela churches. The road improvement schemes we saw all around us on our travels are likely to change all this I guess.

Eighth wonder of the world - Lalibela Rock Hewn churches

 Eighth wonder of the world - UNESCO world heritage site since 1978 - created as the New Jerusalem by King Lalibela more than 800 years ago 

House of the Saviour of the World
Bet Medhane Alem
Reputedly the world's largest rock hewn church

pilgrims coming away from Bet Medhane Adem

impressive outside of Bet Medhane Alem

inside Bet Medhane Alem

Church of St Mary windows symbolizing the three crosses
at Golgotha 

Inside Church of St Mary

Church of St Mary veiled pillar inscribed
with Ten Commandments and description of how
churches built - access denied!

Ethiopian embroidering his white robe

the eleven rock hewn churches of Lalibela are thought by many to be the most impressive historical sites anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa.

Imagine a solid volcanic mountain, and then imagine boring down into that rock to carve out a free standing subterranean block, 

then imagine this block being further bored out from the inside to create a church, with pillars, arches, carvings - so that it is left standing with its roof at ground level, surrounded on all sides by a deep trench. Furthermore, this church is connected to the other churches cut into the same rock by a series of further trenches and underground tunnels. 

These are the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela.

priest with processional cross 

This is a Holy site, spread over about 15 hectares to the south of the small town of Lalibela, the churches split into three groups. From their original construction, the churches in this group (some have arguably been royal palaces or prisons) have been at the centre of Lalibela's spiritual Christian life, where something like 10% of the population are priests.

And now the tourists have arrived, conspiring, along with the weather, to destroy these wonderful sites. 

navigating the ledges between House of the
Cross and Mikael-Golgotha

 

Tourists must be a mixed blessing 

they do after all bring cash into the region. But the weather is a different matter, and in an attempt to protect the churches from further erosion, most are covered by fairly hideous canopies, practical indeed, but doing nothing for the appearance of the places they seek to protect.

Cruciform pillars in Bet Mikael
note "angel eye" carvings either side of
the cross

Prepare for some tough walking between the churches, with some steep and rough steps and one dark tunnel (there is an alternative route if you must) - so wear good strong shoes with adequate grip, and prepare to leave these at the door to each church as you enter. When you come out of a different exit, there you will find your shoes again, beautifully lined up by the "shoe keepers", and ready to put on until the next church.   

Tomb of Adam at exit of Mikael/Golgotha
courtyard

the distinctive traditional two storey circular
stone houses of the area around the
churches

There is a very biblical atmosphere to the place. King Lalibela is also now regarded as one of Ethiopia's most important saints. The day we visited was his feast day and we were rewarded by the sight of many priests and others making their pilgrimage to the churches for a blessing. Many people will walk miles, sometimes for days, sometimes across the mountains, and barefoot, to come to churches for important feast days. We experience this for ourselves in an amazing way in a couple of days time...

To all my readers have a very joyous and peaceful Christmas and read more about this incredible trip as my story continues over the next few weeks into the New Year... 

Ethiopia - Abraha we Atsbeha rock hewn church

locals gathered after worship in traditional
white robes as we approached Abraha we Atsbeha

You have to remember with these rock hewn churches that they are quite literally carved out of the sandstone rock in the cliff faces where they nestle - and it is difficult to imagine the extraordinary skills required of the craftsmen. Why did they do it? Where did they start? How did they choose the sites? What happened to all the rock literally chiselled and hacked out from the inside of the rocks, leaving just the arches and columns and cupolas and sometimes beautifully detailed crosses and other carvings on walls and ceilings?

Abraha we Atsbeha entrance to the courtyard

 And these are not dead and boring artefacts of a bygone age. They are living spiritual homes for hundreds and hundreds of devout worshippers who walk, often many miles, to attend services, as their forefathers have done since the churches were built, most at least by the 16th century, many much earlier even than that. And that is just for an ordinary day - for special feast and other holy days the crowds will be huge - as we experience a little later into our pilgrimage.

the last few steps up to Abraha we Atsbeha
courtyard entrance

once within the courtyard - the more recent white
Italian portico over the original church
porch - note the original church is part of the rock face itself

Adam and Eve

one example of beautiful church murals

the devil in chains - wall mural
note the angels looking in all directions - God looks
at us all wherever we are

 We leave Wukro Chirkos and after a coffee break in Wakru (amazing - the locals seem to quite willingly give up all their seats on the street side patio outside the restaurant to accommodate our group!) we make our way in the coach for 45km along what the guide book describes as a well-maintained and scenic dirt road. Scenic it certainly is - the views are stunning all the way along - but it is very twisty and bumpy and almost more than some of our group can stomach. But wow the destination is worth it.

Mary suckling the baby Jesus

This church is regarded by many to be the finest in Tigrai, simply for its wonderfully exotic and colourful wall and ceiling murals, depicting the complete history of the Ethiopian Christian Church. The church itself is much older than its murals, tradition saying that it was excavated in AD335-40 by the 4th century twin emperors Abraha and Atsbeha to whom the church is dedicated. Their mummified bodies are said to be in a box in the Holy of Holies within the church. Who knows? A priest tried to check the contents of the box and was so severely burnt on his hands that no-one has dared to further investigate!

more wall murals within church

One could study these murals for a very long time but sadly we do not have this luxury - we have to find lunch back in Wakru before a very long drive ahead of us - albeit a fabulously scenic and fascinating one - to reach Axum and our hotel for the night ... to explore Ethiopia's most historically and archaeologically important town - site of its earliest church and spiritual home of its unique Christian tradition.

outside the church a priest studies in the shade
with fabulous view beyond