Located in the southwest of the village of Lalibela, on a sloping rock terrace, Bete Ghiorgis (House of St. George) is one of the best known churches of the UNESCO WHS named Rock-Hewn Churches. Isolated from the others 10 churches hewn from monolithic blocks, is connected with them by a system of trenches. In its deep pit with perpendicular walls it can only be reached through a tunnel which is entered from some distance away through a trench. Small round caves and chambers have been found in the walls of the courtyard graves for pious pilgrims and monks.
This church was built the last, it seems after Lalibela's death (c.1220) by his widow as a memorial to the saint-king, being dedicated to the national saint of Ethiopia. It is described as Lalibela's "most elegant" and "refined" in its architecture and stonemasonry. Although its floor plan is of a cross with nearly equal arms the church is properly orientated, the main entrance being in the west, the holy of holies in the east.
Like a tower the cruciform church cut out of the pink tuff rises from its triple-stepped platform, the regularity of which is broken only by the landings in front of the three doorways in the west, north and south. The roof decoration, often represented as the symbol of the Lalibela monuments on photographs and postcards, is a relief of three equilateral Greek crosses inside each other. On the north, south and west sides, gutters and spouts drain the water from the roof.
One of the more sophisticated details of Bet Giorgis is that the wall thickness increases step by step downwards but that the increase is cleverly hidden by the horizontal bands of mouldings on the exterior walls. There is a small baptismal pool outside the church, which stands in an artificial trench. Despite the orientation, the interior of the church follows the cruciform floor plan of the church. There are no genuine pillars; instead four three-sided pilasters with corbels support the arches.
The dome above the sanctuary in the eastern arm of the church is decorated with a croix pattee in relief, while the flat ceiling of the other arms display a straight relief cross: The ceiling of the intersection is left without decoration. The church is a magnificent culmination of Lalibela's plans to build a New Jerusalem, with its perfect dimensions and geometrical precision, and its roof in the shape of a Greek cross.
Bete Ghiorgis (House of St. George) is part of the UNESCO WHS Rock-Hewn Churches, about which I wrote here.
About the stamps
The first and the last stamp, depicting Menelik's Bushbuck (Tragelaphus Scriptus Menelik), are part of a series containing 24 definitive stamps, about which I wrote here. The second, depicting Afework Gebreyesus, is part of the series Ethiopian Writers 2nd series, bout which I wrote here.
References
Lalibela - Wikipedia
Lalibela - selamta.net
Rock-Cut Churches of Lalibela - Sacred Destinations
Church of Saint George, Lalibela - Wikipedia
Sender: Adam Wole
Sent from Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), on 08.08.2014
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