4352 x 2896 px | 36,8 x 24,5 cm | 14,5 x 9,7 inches | 300dpi
Date de la prise de vue:
1995
Lieu:
Lalibela, Walo Province, Ethiopia
Informations supplémentaires:
Ethiopia , Walo Province, Africa. The Orthodox Coptic Christian church of Beta Ghiorghis (St George) in the small town of Lalibela in Northern Ethiopia. Hewn from the living rock , as are ten other churches in the area, this being the most unusual carved in the form of a cross. A high level of precision is involved cutting the exterior to match the interior which has columns and cupola ceilings. The precise dates of construction and the perpetrators are unknown due to a lack of written documentation.Ethiopian folklore would have it that the whole complex of Lalibela was build during the reign of King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela to replace Jerusalem which had been overrun by Muslims in the twelfth century A.D.Historians are by no means in agreament over the subject however. The architects may, have come from southern Egypt where knowledge of stone carving and construction was at an extremely high level.Another hypothesis is that the builders arrived from Yemen across the Red sea , another country with a high level of architectural know how. The building were saved from destruction by marauding hoards of Muslims lead by Ahmed Grahn, who invaded Ethiopia in the 14th century , by being covered over with wood and straw. The whole of the Lalibela area is a Unesco World Heritage Site .
