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Even if the fame of the Seven Wonders of the World has been outworn and the word "wonder" itself has been misused too often, the visitor will rediscover its true meaning, when faced with the rock churches of Lalibela.
Ever since the first European to describe Lalibela, Francisco Alvarez, came to this holy city between 1521 and 1525, travelers have tried to put into words their experience, praising it as a "New Jerusalem", a "New Golgotha", the "Christian Citadel in the Mountains of Wondrous Ethiopia".
Huts around Lalibela
The inhabitants of the monastic township of Roha-Lalibela in Lasta, Province of Wollo, dwelling in two-storeyed circular huts with dry-stone walls, are unable to believe that the rock churches are entirely made by man. They ascribe their creation to one of the last kings of the Zagwe dynasty, Lalibela, who reigned about 1200 A.D.
The Zagwe dynasty had come to power in the eleventh century, one hundred years after Queen Judith, a ferocious woman warrior, had tribes up from the Semyen mountains to destroy Axum, the capital of the ancient Ethiopian empire in the north.
A painting of King Solomon and Queen of Sheba
The charming Ethiopian folklore pictures telling the story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, which are sold in Addis Ababa, give a popular version of how not only the dynasty of ancient Axum (and present-day Ethiopia) descended from King Solomon,- but also the medieval Zagwe dynasty. The Queen of Sheba gave birth to Menelik, who became the first king of Ethiopia. But the handmaid of the Queen, too, gave birth to a son whose father was King Solomon, and her son was the ancestor of the Zagwe dynasty. The folklore paintings include a lovely little picture of the two women sitting side by side, their babies on their laps, the Queen of Sheba in her coral. Apparel, her handmaid in Tigray costume, busy spinning.
The Zagwe kings ruled until the thirteenth century. When a famous priest, Tekla Haymanot, Persuaded them to abdicate in favor of a descendant of the old Axumite Solomonic dynasty.
However - according to legend - before the throne of Ethiopia was restored to its rightful rulers, upon command of God and with the help of angels. Lalibela's pious zeal converted the royal residence of the Zagwe in the town of Roha into a prayer of stone.
The Ethiopian Church later canonized him and changed the name of Roha to Lalibela. Roha, the centre of worldly might, became Lalibela the holy city; pilgrims to Lalibela shared the same blessings as pilgrims to Jerusalem while the focus of political power drifted to the south to the region of Shoa. Legends flower in Lalibela and it is also according to legend that Lalibela grew up in Roha, where his brother was king. It is said that bees prophesied his future greatness, and Ethiopian folklore still has it that bees in a dream foretell greatness, social advance and coming riches. The king, made jealous by these prophecies about his brother, tried to poison him, but the poison merely cast Lalibela into a death-like sleep for three days. During these three days an angel carried his soul to heaven to show him the churches which he was to build Returned once more to earth he withdrew into the wilderness, then took a wife upon God's command with ,the name of Maskal Kebra (Exalted Cross) and flew with an angel to Jerusalem. Christ himself ordered the king to abdicate in favour of Lalibela. Anointed king under the throne name Gabre-Maskal (Servant of the Cross) Lalibela, living himself an even more severe monastic life than before, carried out the construction of the churches. Angels worked side by side with the stone-masons, any within twenty-four years the entire work was completed.