Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Offline map
(admission Birr100)
On the way to Yemrehanna Kristos, around 35km from Lalibela, is
this three-quarter monolith church in a wild, overgrown but rather beautiful setting. It's
thought to have been built by King Kaleb in AD 518.
Arbatu ensessa
means 'the four
beasts' after the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It's five minutes' walk
from the road.
PRESTER JOHN OF THE INDIES
I, Prester John, who reign supreme, exceed in riches, virtue and power all creatures who dwell under Heaven…In
our territories are found elephants, dromedaries and camels and almost every kind of beast. Honey flows in our
land, and milk abounds…No poison can do harm here and no noisy frogs croak, no scorpions are there, and no
serpents creep through the grass. No venomous reptiles can exist or use their deadly power.
Prester John
The letter the mysterious Christian ruler Prester John wrote to the Byzantine Emperor Manuel Comnenus I in
1165 went on to inform of how his kingdom contained 'Centaurs, Amazons and shrinking giants'. There was a
river that flowed from Paradise 'and in it are found emeralds, sapphires and many other precious stones'. His
palace, so he said, was a 'palace of crystal with a roof of ebony and everyday 30,000 sit down to eat at tables of
gold supported by columns of amethyst'. The great ruler himself wore robes spun from gold by salamanders that
lived on a mountain of fire.
It was impressive stuff, but what really grabbed the attention of medieval Europe was Prester John's promise
that he would ride forth from his kingdom with 10,000 cavalry and 100,000 foot soldiers and, alongside the
armies of Western Europe, they would retake the Holy Lands from the Muslims.
The Christian Crusaders had lost much of the Holy Land and were on the verge of losing Jerusalem itself. News
of Prester John's letter spread like wildfire throughout Christian Europe. It was partially in order to find Prester
John's kingdom that the Portuguese launched the age of European exploration that changed the world forever.
Having first looked unsuccessfully in Asia, the focus turned to Ethiopia. When the Portuguese finally reached
Gonder, they found a Christian kingdom that was a far cry from the glorious legend and certainly in no position to
aid the reconquest of Jerusalem.
And of Prester John? It turned out that one of the most intriguing figures of medieval Europe was nothing more
than collective imagination, and the letter that started it all was a fake created by a German monk.
Bilbila Giyorgis
(admission Birr100)
Lying west of Arbatu Ensessa, around 32km from Lalibela, Bilbila
Giyorgis is also attributed to King Kaleb. It resembles Bet Abba Libanos in design. Ac-
cording to tradition, five swarms of bees took up residence shortly after the church was
completed. They still reside here and their sacred honey is said to have curative proper-
CHURCH
