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Christianity's First Centuries in Africa |
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| Reflections
on Christianity: Two Perspectives on Ethiopia's Living Tradition By Alisa LaGamma; Chester Higgins, Jr., photographer |
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 figure 6  figure 7 |
At Lalibela Ethiopia’s longstanding stone-working
expertise was directed to the carving of monumental sculptural forms
that imitate the architecture of built churches. It is extraordinary
to consider that beyond the labor required to execute these works,
it was necessary to fully conceptualize their design in its entirety
from the interior spatial layouts to the exterior decoration in all
its details before the work was initiated. Once begun, like the efforts
of a sculptor releasing a form from within a block of stone, the
subtractive process afforded no mistakes or opportunities for corrections
or revision. The cutting and hollowing of the tufa began at the summit
and proceeded downwards. Peter Garlake has commented on the technical
challenge these structures represent: Even if the spaces were only roughed out in the first stages of excavation, the final space was implicit in almost every part of its detail. As one cut out the apex of a dome, for instance, one had to have a precise sense of its final diameter, of the span of its pendentives, of bay sizes, of column and arch dimensions, and capital and column forms. The churches are not only testimonies to masonry skills; they are even more monuments to their architects’ powers of logical thought, foresight, imagination, and ability to control every aspect of the work (Garlake, 91). With one exception, the churches carved from living rock at Lalibela fall into two clusters, once interconnected by underground passages, positioned on either side of the Jordan. These structures range considerably in scale and complexity (Phillipson, Monuments, 133, 135). Among the northern group is Medhane Alem, or “the Saviour of the World.” Largest in scale and among the most impressive of the Lalibela churches, this five-aisle basilica measures 109 by 76 feet or 33.5 by 23.5 meters and is 36 feet or 11 meters high. It’s difficult to immediately comprehend the immensity of this creation given that its roof is roughly level with the adjacent hillside and it is encircled by a great vertical-sided trench. The fact that this monument is literally carved into the rock landscape makes it challenging to step back from. One must stand dwarfed by the trench and walk around the circumference of the base to fully appreciate its wonder. Medhane Alem was originally surrounded on all four sides by an external colonnade of thirty-four slender rectangular columns, many of which have been restored. The pitched roof is carved to represent an arcade. Its austere, unadorned dark interior is divided by massive, plain square columns in a vaulted nave and five flat-roofed aisles. Marilyn Heldman has emphasized that these distinctive features—the external colonnade, five aisles, and sixty-two piers—replicate those of the original cathedral at Aksum (Heldman, 32; Phillipson, Monuments, 133). |
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