NewsJuly 16, 20262 min read
Lalibela named among the world’s top five must-visit UNESCO sites
Euronews has listed the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela among five World Heritage Sites every traveller should see.
UNESCO Heritage · Historic Northern Ethiopia
Lalibela
The “New Jerusalem” of King Lalibela: a 12th-century holy city excavated from the red volcanic rock of the Lasta Mountains, where the liturgy has never stopped.
- Best Time
- September to July
- Suggested Stay
- 2 to 3 days
- Altitude
- 2,500 m
- Region
- Historic Northern Ethiopia
Why We Go
Eleven churches carved downward into living rock, still alive with prayer.
Lalibela, once known as Roha, was the capital of the Zagwe dynasty. Under King Lalibela in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, eleven churches were carved directly out of the rock in two main groups, joined by tunnels and ceremonial passages, with the solitary Bete Giyorgis standing apart. UNESCO inscribed them as a World Heritage Site in 1978.
Lalibela is not a ruin. It is a working sanctuary and Ethiopia’s holiest town, where priests still descend the same rock stairways their predecessors cut eight centuries ago. Arriving early, you hear the chant before you see the churches. Our founder was born here and began his career guiding these churches, so we know the hours when they are at their most beautiful.
Beyond the town, the Lasta Mountains hide many more cave and rock churches from the same period, community trekking routes, and the high massif of Abune Yosef, all easy to combine with a visit.
Highlights
- Bete Medhane Alem, the largest monolithic church in the world
- The cross-shaped Bete Giyorgis, cut 12 metres down into the rock
- Tunnels and trenches linking the northern and eastern clusters
- Mountain monasteries of Asheton Maryam and Yemrehanna Kristos
- Genna and Timkat, when tens of thousands of pilgrims arrive
Journeys Including Lalibela
Routes that pass through here
More in Historic Northern Ethiopia
From The Travel Journal
Read more about Lalibela
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