If you’re planning to travel to Africa, you might consider visiting the Ethiopian city of Lalibela, where you can find the only rock-hewn monolithic churches in the world. Built between the 12th and 13th century, the town of Lalibela was meant to be the new Jerusalem, after the Holy City fell to the Muslims, in 1181.
The 13 churches are either carved in vertical cliffs, in natural caves or right into the ground and separated by trenches. They were all hand-carved by the Ethiopian Orthodox Christians and the technical details are studying material even for modern architects. The churches of Lalibela are all connected through tunnels and the trench system transports the water to the nearby River Jordan. Anyone who knows the heavy rains that fall in Ethiopia, can appreciate this evacuation system.
All the religious structures of Lalibela are named after buildings in Jerusalem.
