Lalibela is a small town in the north of Ethiopia and one of its holiest cities - about 8,000 people live here now. It is known for its 13 rock cut churches that were built from 1100 - 1200 AD, and it is thought to have taken at least 50 years to build each. They have been in continuous use as churches since that time. The building are similar to Petra in Jordan, where dozens of huge buildings were also hand carved from solid rock, though Petra dates to over 3,000 years ago.
(above) An early morning parishioner looks down almost 100 feet (or ten stories) at the priest who has come to unlock St. Georges Church. Carved from a single piece of stone, this church represented an architectural style that resisted the burning and looting that accompanied invasions at the turn of the first millennium.
An Ethiopian priest peers through a metal cross that was forged for his church, almost a thousand years ago.
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