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Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name

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Speaker 1: is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. In. Today we're

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Speaker 1: bringing you the introduction for an unexpected vault episode. This

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Speaker 1: is something we are recording at sometime in the generic

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Speaker 1: past to maybe be used in the future whenever we

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Speaker 1: need it. So we hope you enjoyed this vault episode.

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Speaker 1: Whatever it is. Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind.

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Speaker 1: A production of I Heart Radios has to work. Hey,

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name is

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Speaker 1: Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick in. Today we're gonna

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Speaker 1: be talking about a piece of legendary architecture. This will

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Speaker 1: be sort of in the tradition of our episodes on

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Speaker 1: We did one on the Great Buddha in Chuan, right, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: And and like that episode, you know, we're gonna we're

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Speaker 1: gonna be focusing in on this particular um work of

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Speaker 1: our chitecture. This this this particular thing that people have

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Speaker 1: made out of the earth. But in doing so, we're

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Speaker 1: gonna get a chance to discuss a little history, a

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Speaker 1: little theology, and perhaps you know, overall introduce many of

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Speaker 1: our listeners to maybe a part of the world you

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Speaker 1: haven't heard about, are a part of of our shared

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Speaker 1: history that you may not be that familiar with. Because

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Speaker 1: when you think of great constructions, you know what good

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Speaker 1: comes to mind? You think of the Great Pyramids, the

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Speaker 1: Great Wall of China, perhaps, You think of Stone Hinge,

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Speaker 1: or the Ziggurats of Mesopotamia, the meso American pyramids perhaps,

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Speaker 1: and these are all fabulous. And these are just a

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Speaker 1: few examples that we can turn to for amazing marvels

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Speaker 1: of stonework, architecture, and construction throughout humanity's history. And with

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Speaker 1: all of them we we revel in the study of

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Speaker 1: their construction. Right, how did in many cases ancient people

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Speaker 1: refine the raw earth itself into the necessary building blocks?

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Speaker 1: How do they transport all this stuff then to the

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Speaker 1: building sites? And then how did they umble these structures

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Speaker 1: that end up standing, you know, the test of millennia,

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Speaker 1: while the empires around them rise and fall, and yet

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Speaker 1: these structures remain. You Know, something we've discussed a number

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Speaker 1: of times is the way these ancient structures, uh, they

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Speaker 1: demonstrate mysteries about about past engineering techniques that very often

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Speaker 1: tend to cause people to want to go to to

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Speaker 1: outlandish alternate hypotheses. You know, all the ideas about how

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Speaker 1: the pyramids were built, you always get the aliens hypothesis,

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Speaker 1: and like, you know, why is it that people want

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Speaker 1: to go there with that kind of thing rather than

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Speaker 1: just thinking, wow, ancient people must have been so clever

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Speaker 1: to come up with with ways of making such amazing

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Speaker 1: structures with the limited tools they had, right, Yes, like

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Speaker 1: the the idea that ancient Egyptian humans built the pyramids

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Speaker 1: is to my mind the plenty amazing. You don't have

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Speaker 1: to go to the even more amazing and outlandish idea

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Speaker 1: that aliens came from another world and showed them how

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Speaker 1: to do it. I mean, really that it's far more

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Speaker 1: interesting to to examine the truth than see seek the

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Speaker 1: truth of the situation, like how did actual humans carry

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Speaker 1: this out? How did they, even with their you know,

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Speaker 1: their limited technologies, figure out how to achieve these marvels.

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Speaker 1: But it's not just the Pyramids. I mean, I think

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Speaker 1: it's fascinating that sooner or later an aliens hypothesis shows

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Speaker 1: up for all of these, you know, for Stoneheinge, for

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Speaker 1: the Mesoamerican Pyramids, for basically anything built in a pre

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Speaker 1: modern period that still looks amazing today, right, And I

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Speaker 1: mean really, if you if you wonder about anything that

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Speaker 1: you maybe don't have a full grasp on how the

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Speaker 1: pieces came together, like say bread, it's easy to think, oh, Brad,

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Speaker 1: just does not seem to make sense. It must have

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Speaker 1: been the gift of an alien culture. But we talked

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Speaker 1: about this before, we did a whole pair of episodes

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Speaker 1: on ancient alien hypothesis and and what Karl Sagan had

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Speaker 1: to say about it and other critics have had to

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Speaker 1: say about it. But indeed, all of these, uh, these

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Speaker 1: locations that I've mentioned already, you can find certainly find

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Speaker 1: some ancient aliens folks out there that are chiming in

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Speaker 1: on it. And I also ran across some related to

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Speaker 1: today's episode because but but we're not going to really

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Speaker 1: get into that, because the real story is the amazing part.

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Speaker 1: We're going to be discussing a particular example of construction

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Speaker 1: that is really just as amazing as you know, making

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Speaker 1: all these giant blocks, bringing them together and building the pyramid.

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Speaker 1: But this particular example is also going to buck the

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Speaker 1: traditional steps that we've discussed here, and we're gonna be

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Speaker 1: looking at the centuries old Christian temples in Ethiopia. That

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Speaker 1: we're not built from blocks of stone that we're you know,

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Speaker 1: chorried over here and then brought together and then assembled

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Speaker 1: into a building. Now, these are free standing monolithic churches

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Speaker 1: that are each hewn from the solid red volcanic scoria

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Speaker 1: underlaid by dark gray basalt, standing tall in the core

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Speaker 1: rays from which they were sculpted. So basically these were

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Speaker 1: hewn out of solid stone. The quarry becomes the courtyard. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's a building that is not built but released from

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Speaker 1: the earth. Subtractive manufacturing of marvels. It is. It is amazing.

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Speaker 1: I was not familiar with these until just last week

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Speaker 1: when I was looking around for an episode for us

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Speaker 1: to do, and I was initially thought, oh, why don't

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Speaker 1: we do Petra the ruins in in Jordan's you know,

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Speaker 1: with that where the architecture is built into the side

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Speaker 1: of this um. Uh, this kind of like ravine situation. Right.

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Speaker 1: If you think you've never seen these, uh, these rock

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Speaker 1: hewn buildings, you probably have. They're featured for example, in

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Speaker 1: Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade. They show up in

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Speaker 1: several movies that pet Petro specifically in this case that year. Right,

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Speaker 1: So so I was thinking Petro would be a good episode.

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Speaker 1: I started looking around about Indeed, Petra is fascinating. Perhaps

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Speaker 1: will come back to it. But then I was just

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Speaker 1: looking around other examples of of, you know, buildings that

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Speaker 1: have been hewn from stone, and then these just really

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Speaker 1: stood out as just the prime example, like the most

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Speaker 1: extreme example of what you could do with subtractive manufacturing

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Speaker 1: of an entire building to build, to construct a building

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Speaker 1: by not even constructing it, by just carving away at

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Speaker 1: solid stone until it is there with no need for

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Speaker 1: bricks or mortar or wood or nails or any of

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Speaker 1: this architecture as sculpture. Yeah, so where will you find these? Will?

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Speaker 1: You will find them in Lalibela, Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a

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Speaker 1: course of nation in Eastern Africa, and they stood there

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Speaker 1: at least since the late twelfth century CE, though you know,

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Speaker 1: we'll probably get into some of the dating in greater

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Speaker 1: detail later, but first, just a few notes about Ethiopia

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Speaker 1: in general. Modern Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country

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Speaker 1: in the world and the second most populous African nation

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Speaker 1: after Nigeria. Ethiopia is also considered one of only two

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Speaker 1: African nations never to be subjected to long term European colonization,

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Speaker 1: the other being Liberia, and to be more specific, it

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Speaker 1: was it was never. It was never colonized during that

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Speaker 1: nineteenth century period where so much of Africa was. Though

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Speaker 1: it was occupied by Italy during the Second World War,

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Speaker 1: but not and not long enough for there to be

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Speaker 1: like true lasting cultural change because of it. Still, throughout

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Speaker 1: its history it certainly came into contact with foreign ideas

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Speaker 1: and influences, and we'll be discussing a major one here

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Speaker 1: today because one of the other things you noticed about

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Speaker 1: Ethiopia is that its majority religion is the Ethiopian Orthodox

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Speaker 1: Teawahito Church, what's known as an Oriental Orthodox Christian Church,

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Speaker 1: and it dates back many centuries. There's also a sizeable

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Speaker 1: Islamic population in Ethiopia, followed in popularity by Protestants, traditional

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Speaker 1: faiths Catholicism and Judaism. Now, of course, there are other

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Speaker 1: fascinating things about Ethiopia as well. For instance, Ethiopian cuisine

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Speaker 1: has certainly traveled well around the world. I think it's

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Speaker 1: widely believed to be the origin place of coffee, yes,

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Speaker 1: coffee and uh and okra as well. I was I

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Speaker 1: chatted with Annie of our fellow podcast here in the

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Speaker 1: Atlanta office is a Saver, and I said, hey, have

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Speaker 1: you guys done anything on Ethiopian cuisine because we can

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Speaker 1: mention on the podcast. And they said that they had

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Speaker 1: not yet, though they both love Ethiopian food, but they

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Speaker 1: have done an episode in okra and they've done an

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Speaker 1: episode on coffee that'd get into those origins. I'd say

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Speaker 1: those are two of my favorite plant based foods. Are

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Speaker 1: you an ocra fan? Are you you one of those

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Speaker 1: people who thinks it's slimy? Oh? I love okra and

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Speaker 1: I love it because it is slimy, especially in gumbo,

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Speaker 1: because it who acts as a thickening agent. So I

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Speaker 1: I want there to be okra present in many a.

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Speaker 1: Dish bus is great, it's great, fried, it's great. Uh,

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Speaker 1: it's great pickled. Yeah, I'm an okra fan for sure. Okay,

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Speaker 1: we're on the same page. I like it all those

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Speaker 1: ways too. I also really like okra and Indian food.

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Speaker 1: I feel like, yeah, it goes really good with Indian spices.

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Speaker 1: I feel like I've had it in Indian food before,

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Speaker 1: but maybe not recently enough for it to really strike

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Speaker 1: a court. I'll have to seek it out. There was

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Speaker 1: a restaurant here in town that made a really amazing

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Speaker 1: curried okra and then and then they went out of business.

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Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's talk in greater detail about Ethiopian

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Speaker 1: Christianity then, because since we're focusing in on old Christian

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Speaker 1: temples that were carved out of the ground in Ethiopia,

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Speaker 1: we should describe how Christianity came to East Africa. Sure, So,

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Speaker 1: I was looking at a scientific paper that will make

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Speaker 1: a brief reference to later in the episode. Uh and

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Speaker 1: the authors of this paper Ethiopian scientists as Foils and

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Speaker 1: as Rot and yod aylu Uh. They point out in

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Speaker 1: the background section of their paper that the broader tradition

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Speaker 1: of rock human churches in Ethiopia is historically associated with

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Speaker 1: the coming of a group of figures known as the

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Speaker 1: Nine Saints, who were alleged to have journey from Egypt

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Speaker 1: and Syria during the late fifth and early sixth centuries

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Speaker 1: to preach the Gospel of Christianity in Ethiopia and more specifically,

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Speaker 1: to spread and promote the monastic lifestyle. So I was

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Speaker 1: digging into this claim. I wanted to learn more about

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Speaker 1: the Nine Saints, and this eventually led me down a

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Speaker 1: path where I found a really awesome entry about Ethiopian

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Speaker 1: Christianity and the Ethiopian monastic tradition in a book called

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Speaker 1: the Encyclopedia of Monasticism edited by the historian Will Johnston,

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Speaker 1: with this specific entry on Ethiopian monastic Christianity written by

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Speaker 1: the Ethiopian American philologist get A Chow Highly. I was

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Speaker 1: treading this as well, and it is is quite quite

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Speaker 1: a fascinating entry. I just had no idea just how

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Speaker 1: imported the monastic tradition was for just Ethiopian culture in general.

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Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, So. Highly writes that due to the proximity

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Speaker 1: of Ethiopia to the Middle East, some Christianity probably began

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Speaker 1: to spread their organically as soon as the religion was founded.

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Speaker 1: But Highly also claims that Ethiopian Christianity is a form

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Speaker 1: of the religion that's kind of uniquely shaped by monks

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Speaker 1: and monastic influences. So what exactly would that mean. Well,

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Speaker 1: monasticism is the tradition we associate with monks and nuns.

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Speaker 1: It's the strain of a faith that calls for a

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Speaker 1: radical lifestyle of religious devotion, often including things like vows

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Speaker 1: of poverty or vows of chastity or vows of silence

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Speaker 1: or fasting, general seclusion from secular life. So you know,

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Speaker 1: the priest or preacher within a religion might usually live

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Speaker 1: among the society preaching the faith. Meanwhile, the monk undertakes

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Speaker 1: in some way to live outside the society, rejecting many

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Speaker 1: of the comforts and pleasures of normal life, making their

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Speaker 1: day to day habits and living conditions themselves kind of

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Speaker 1: a radical demonstration of faith. An interesting fact that the

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Speaker 1: author points out is that it's currently really unknown how

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Speaker 1: many monasteries are in Ethiopia because the government keeps track

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Speaker 1: of churches, but not every monastery has a church, and

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Speaker 1: not every mountain or wilderness center that is uh that

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Speaker 1: you know is historically a monastery is going to be

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Speaker 1: active today. But he lives quite a number of them.

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Speaker 1: And he also mentions Ethiopian monasteries outside of the country,

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Speaker 1: such as in Egypt where they that it looks like

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Speaker 1: they now live alongside Coptic Christian monks there, but then

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Speaker 1: also in Jerusalem as well. Yeah, and we can come

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Speaker 1: back to you later on how these monasteries appear to

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Speaker 1: play a very important role in Ethiopian religious life. Uh

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Speaker 1: So there's a legend about the founding of the Ethiopian

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Speaker 1: Christian Church recorded by the fourth century Christian historian and

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Speaker 1: scholar tyranny Us Rufinus, who lived in what is now

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Speaker 1: northern Italy, and the tale told by Rufinus goes something

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Speaker 1: like this. So in the city of Tier, which is

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Speaker 1: in modern day Lebanon, you know, it's like Tier in Sidon,

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Speaker 1: there was once this philosopher named Meropius, and Meropius had

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Speaker 1: two young students named Frumentius and Adasus. Now, one day

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Speaker 1: Europius decides he's going to set out on a sea

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Speaker 1: voyage and travel to India, and he's going to bring

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Speaker 1: his two students with him. But then tragedy strikes and

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Speaker 1: their ship sinks outside of a port that Rufinus writes

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Speaker 1: is in India, but it's apparently widely interpreted to be

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Speaker 1: a confused attempt to reference Ethiopia, so this is believed

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Speaker 1: often to be Ethiopia that he's talking about. And the

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Speaker 1: of the capital city of Axom. This would have been

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Speaker 1: the capital of what's known as the Axom Dynasty or

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Speaker 1: the or the Kingdom of Axum, where they were given

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Speaker 1: employment by the king, and Fermentius became the king's secretary,

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Speaker 1: while Adasius became the king's butler, And through his position

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Speaker 1: as secretary and his subsequent role instructing the young princes

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Speaker 1: at the palace, Frementius is allegedly able to eventually convert

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Speaker 1: the entire royal court to Christianity. And from here it's

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Speaker 1: written that Frementius encouraged the scattered Christians among the people

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Speaker 1: of Axom to organize into a church and to a

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Speaker 1: school for the Christian upbringing of children. And then, when

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Speaker 1: Frementius and Odisius were released from their positions in the

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Speaker 1: court at Axim, from Intias allegedly went to Alexandria to

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Speaker 1: convince the current archbishop there, Athanasius, to recognize the church

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Speaker 1: in Ethiopia and look after its well being. And in

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Speaker 1: turn Athanasius said, well, you'd be a good leader of

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Speaker 1: that church. And so Athanasius and the other bishops decided

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Speaker 1: to name Frementius Bishop of Axom. So tradition says that

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Speaker 1: in this way from Intius became the first bishop and

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Speaker 1: the first apostle of Ethiopia, and he went throughout the

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Speaker 1: kingdom preaching the peace of Christ, which is how he

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Speaker 1: became known in the Ethiopian Christian tradition as Abba Salama,

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Speaker 1: which means Father Peace. Now. Highly, however, casts doubt on

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Speaker 1: the historical validity of this this foundational narrative, noting that

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Speaker 1: local sources don't really mention anything significant about Frementius in

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Speaker 1: this period, and that the historical evidence indicates the story

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Speaker 1: was probably later introduced to Ethiopia after first being written

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Speaker 1: by other authors in Greek. Highly writes, quote, Undoubtedly Frementius

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Speaker 1: was a bishop consecrated for Ethiopia by St. Athanaceous, but

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Speaker 1: the local tradition has no memory of him and his

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Speaker 1: efforts to Christianize Ethiopia. Doesn't history often work that way.

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Speaker 1: You've got a good founding story, but then like the

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Speaker 1: locals didn't record anything about it, so it seems like

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Speaker 1: it probably didn't quite happen that way. Yeah or yeah,

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Speaker 1: just in general, this um this sort of push and

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Speaker 1: pull between reality and myth, and that area in between

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Speaker 1: where you're not sure where the history ends in the

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Speaker 1: myth begins. Yeah, it's always the way anyway. However, Highly

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Speaker 1: writes that much of the Christianizing influence on ethie Opia

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Speaker 1: and the following centuries did come from missionaries, primarily monks

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Speaker 1: from the Byzantine Christian world. And of course, you know,

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Speaker 1: the Byzantine Empire at the time would have spanned much

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Speaker 1: of the Mediterranean, so would have people of Byzantine influences

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Speaker 1: could be coming from like Egypt or wherever. Right, and

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Speaker 1: by the way, if you want a deeper dive into

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Speaker 1: Byzantine culture and Byzantine history, we did an episode on

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Speaker 1: Greek fire years back that we recommend. Yes. Uh So,

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Speaker 1: these these monks of the Byzantine Christian influence would be

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Speaker 1: arriving individually and in groups roughly between the fifth and

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Speaker 1: the seventh centuries. And the most famous of these Byzantine

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Speaker 1: missionary monks are known locally in Ethiopian tradition as the

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Speaker 1: Nine Saints. Now, there's an interesting historical re contextualization that

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Speaker 1: highly gives here. He says that church historians generally believed

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Speaker 1: that this group of missionaries was actually on a kind

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Speaker 1: of factional theological mission. They were trying trying to get

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Speaker 1: Ethiopia to take sides in a theological dispute that was

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Speaker 1: going on in the Church, or to stay on their side.

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Speaker 1: Uh So, at the time one of the major theological

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Speaker 1: disputes rocking the Christian Church was about the essential nature

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Speaker 1: of Christ. And the question is this, did Jesus Christ

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Speaker 1: have just one nature where he was entirely divine or

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Speaker 1: entirely human? Or did Christ have two separate natures, one

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Speaker 1: of them earthly and one of them divine. Now, I know,

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Speaker 1: with that kind of argument, I'm sure some people are

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Speaker 1: kind of rolling your eyes, like that doesn't sound like

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Speaker 1: a super meaningful distinction. But disputes like this were rampant

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Speaker 1: in the early Church, and they lead to bitter, agonizing

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Speaker 1: power struggles and sometimes excommunication, accusations of heresy and all

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Speaker 1: the concominant punishments and you know, etcetera. So these fights

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Speaker 1: about the nature of Christ are known as christological disputes,

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Speaker 1: and they these disputes are the origin of a lot

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Speaker 1: of the dogmas that would later become you know, widespread

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Speaker 1: in in the Catholic Church. Yeah, I mean, because when

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Speaker 1: you start asking the question, you know, is was Christ

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Speaker 1: human or divine? If you didn't say, oh, well there

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Speaker 1: was who was human or you had a human element,

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Speaker 1: then you might say, well, how human was the human?

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Speaker 1: Like it's like you are the rich clergy or is

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Speaker 1: he human like like we are the peasants. Uh. That's

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Speaker 1: a really great point, especially because while some of these things,

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Speaker 1: these distinctions might not sound super meaningful to us, they

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Speaker 1: had implications, often like material political implications that aren't obvious

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Speaker 1: if you just read about the pure theological dispute. That's

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Speaker 1: one thing I love about the the Umberto Echo novel

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Speaker 1: and the Name of the Rose, which we've talked about

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Speaker 1: on the show before, is it. It deals with a

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Speaker 1: lot of these angels dancing on the head of a

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Speaker 1: pin kind of theological disputes, but also gives some shading

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Speaker 1: about what their real world political and economic implications were

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Speaker 1: right and how it ends up breaking down to the

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Speaker 1: suffering of at least the common man anyway. So anyway,

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Speaker 1: the view that Christ had two separate natures, both divine

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Speaker 1: and human, came to be known as Chalcedonianism after the

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Speaker 1: Council of Chalcedon in four fifty one, which ended with

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Speaker 1: the with a sort of uneasy consensus upon the two

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Speaker 1: nature thing. And the view that Christ had only one

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Speaker 1: nature came to be known as monophysicism, and this view,

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Speaker 1: the one nature view of monophysicism, was probably at least

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Speaker 1: according to this church historian interpretation, was probably represented by

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Speaker 1: these figures known as the Nine Saints. That you know,

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Speaker 1: if this view is correct, they came to Ethiopia to

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Speaker 1: make sure that the Ethiopian Church continued to preach one

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Speaker 1: nature in Christ and resist the two nature view. And

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Speaker 1: you can also see how they would be sort of

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Speaker 1: be seeking to to to get ahead to this far

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Speaker 1: flung of the region of Christians and just ensure that

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Speaker 1: they had the right version of the of the story. Right. Yes, yes,

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Speaker 1: though highly says wild, this is the thing that's generally

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Speaker 1: suspected by church historians. Nothing is certain. We don't know

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Speaker 1: for sure about all the motivations of these nine Saints.

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Speaker 1: Locally in Ethiopia, the Nine Saints are are not remembered

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Speaker 1: for arguing any particular side of a Christological SmackDown. There

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Speaker 1: They're mainly remembered for strengthening the faith of the Ethiopian

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Speaker 1: Church and for again emphasizing monasticism the monk lifestyle. Uh So,

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Speaker 1: these nine Saints are said to have brought with them

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Speaker 1: a number of important books, and these are widely believed

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Speaker 1: to have included the books of the New Testament, but

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Speaker 1: also books of Christian doctrine and education. So in evidence

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Speaker 1: of the strong influence of monasticism in Ethiopia, Highly mentions

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Speaker 1: that one of the first books translated into the Ethiopian

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Speaker 1: language at the time, known as Ghez was a work

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Speaker 1: known as the Monastic Rule of Pachomius, who was the

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Speaker 1: founder of the Sinnobitic monasticism tradition. Now, this is a

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Speaker 1: type of monasticism that encouraged monks to live together in

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Speaker 1: communities with other monks, like the abbeys we would traditionally

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Speaker 1: think of, rather than simply living individually as isolated hermits,

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Speaker 1: which I think is the older view of the monk lifestyle.

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Speaker 1: Of course, you still saw examples of that in Ethiopia

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Speaker 1: as well. Right, yeah, yeah, you see both. Uh So,

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Speaker 1: maybe we should take a break and then when we

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Speaker 1: come back we can talk about the Nine Saints. All right,

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Speaker 1: we're back, So let's let's get to get to these

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Speaker 1: nine saints. Who who are they? And what were they? What?

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Speaker 1: What did they allegedly bring to Ethiopia? Okay, Well, Highly

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Speaker 1: mentioned actually ten well remembered Byzantine monks, who each founded

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Speaker 1: a monastery in Ethiopia. The first one is not traditionally

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Speaker 1: thought of as one of the Nine Saints, but he's

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Speaker 1: historically very important, and so he bears mentioning this is

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Speaker 1: Libanos or Mata. And legend has it that he heard

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Speaker 1: the call to a monastic life on his wedding night.

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Speaker 1: That is that is bad timing, dude, or perfect timing.

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Speaker 1: I guess you know, I guess so. Uh. So on

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Speaker 1: his wedding night he's like, oh, oh no, wait, I

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Speaker 1: gotta take a vow of celibacy. I gotta go be

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Speaker 1: a monk. So he runs off to do that. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And he apparently went to Ethiopia, where he founded a

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Speaker 1: monastery and helped an Ethiopian monk translate one of the

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Speaker 1: Gospels into guez Uh. And then the next are who

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Speaker 1: are traditionally thought of as the Nine Saints. I'm not

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Speaker 1: going to mention biographical details or legends about all of them,

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Speaker 1: just a couple of them. So the first one is

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Speaker 1: named Aragawi or Zamikhael, and he is known as the

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Speaker 1: leader of the Nine Saints or the elder. Zamikhaiel is

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Speaker 1: also an appellation that means like devoted to Michael uh

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Speaker 1: and on. So the nine Saints supposedly traveled from Egypt

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Speaker 1: to Ethiopia with Zamikhael as their leader, and legend says

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Speaker 1: that quote the saint used a long serpent as a

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Speaker 1: rope to ascend the impregnable summit of Mount Damo, where

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Speaker 1: he built his monastery. All right, so they all build

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Speaker 1: a monastery. This guy uses a snake to climb a

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Speaker 1: mountain and builds a monastery on top of the mountain. Uh,

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Speaker 1: then this is a mountain top monastery that still exists today.

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Speaker 1: Obviously historians do not think he actually used a snake

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Speaker 1: to climb the mountain, but uh, there is really a

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Speaker 1: monastery there. It is attributed to him. It's in the

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Speaker 1: region of t Gray, and it's famous for being only

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Speaker 1: accessible by a rope assisted ascent up a steep cliff side.

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Speaker 1: So you really do have to climb a rope up

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Speaker 1: a cliff to get to this monastery. That that sounds terrifying.

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Speaker 1: And I also think that that might be the point

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Speaker 1: of it, because there was there was another cliff side

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Speaker 1: or a mountaintop sanctuary that we that we ran across.

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Speaker 1: I was looking at a video from Great Big Story

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Speaker 1: about this, and I think there's also uh, there's been

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Speaker 1: a BBC videos about it as well, uh, this is

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Speaker 1: this other one is known as Abuna Yamata Go or

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Speaker 1: the Church of St Abuna Yamata. Yeah, and the video

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Speaker 1: I watched showed how to to climb it. First of all,

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Speaker 1: you have to climb a barefoot um and then the

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Speaker 1: final stretches. This is after you've actually ascended to to

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Speaker 1: height on level with this small little monastery that's built

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Speaker 1: into the cliff. You have to walk along this cliff

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Speaker 1: side trail to the entrance and it's just a sheer

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Speaker 1: drop to your left. Uh. And the the narrator was

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Speaker 1: talking about just how it's it's terrifying, and then you're

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Speaker 1: inside the sanctuary and I can't help. I mean, part

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Speaker 1: of that, of course, it's just nature of the location.

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Speaker 1: But the other part is I can imagine that you're

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Speaker 1: you're walking along this ledge and it is this terrifying

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Speaker 1: um ordeal. You know, you're imagining yourself plummeting and falling

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Speaker 1: and dying, and then you emerge into this this decorated

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Speaker 1: cavern with these images painted on the wall. When you're

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Speaker 1: in this Holy Shank sanctuary, Uh, just you know, secluded

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Speaker 1: from everything else. Yeah, I think what you're emphasizing there

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Speaker 1: is that the seclusion, the isolation, the inaccessibility, and the

428
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,320
Speaker 1: danger are not bugs but features. They're part of the

429
00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:19,479
Speaker 1: religious experience generated in getting to this, this place believed

430
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:21,280
Speaker 1: to be holy. Right, So I can see the same

431
00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:23,639
Speaker 1: situation being in place if you are having to climb

432
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:28,200
Speaker 1: this this rope to finally emerge into a sanctuary. Yeah,

433
00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:31,119
Speaker 1: an interesting note on the same subject, but this is

434
00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 1: from a different part of Gatacio Highly's history. Highly also

435
00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:40,520
Speaker 1: writes that there are two words meaning monastery. He doesn't

436
00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:42,920
Speaker 1: say the language specifically, but I'm pretty sure he's talking

437
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:46,280
Speaker 1: about m Harrek, the the Ethiopian language of today. But

438
00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:50,399
Speaker 1: he says these two words today meaning monastery. The first

439
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:55,200
Speaker 1: word is dabber, which literally comes from the word meaning mountain,

440
00:25:55,520 --> 00:26:00,000
Speaker 1: as in Mount Sinai. And then the other word is goddam,

441
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:03,399
Speaker 1: which which comes from a word meaning wilderness, as in

442
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:06,080
Speaker 1: John the Baptist referring to himself as a voice crying

443
00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:09,400
Speaker 1: out in the wilderness. Uh. And I loved that. That's

444
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,600
Speaker 1: so interesting. So you've got these two words both mean monastery,

445
00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:16,840
Speaker 1: one means mountain and one means wilderness. Yeah, that's great.

446
00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:18,879
Speaker 1: I mean that that ties in nicely with topics we've

447
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:23,120
Speaker 1: discussed in the show before how high elevation can can

448
00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:27,440
Speaker 1: impact the mind and then also the the recharging effects

449
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:30,880
Speaker 1: of being in a natural environment. Yeah, and I think

450
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:33,040
Speaker 1: you read this part also where he talks about that

451
00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:35,960
Speaker 1: they do sometimes refer to different types of monasteries. So

452
00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:39,080
Speaker 1: like the Dauber Monastery would be a monastery that is

453
00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:41,359
Speaker 1: on top of a mountain or is a certain type

454
00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:47,640
Speaker 1: of like major officially recognized monastery. Meanwhile, a Gadam monastery

455
00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:50,760
Speaker 1: I think can be more like is uh, can be

456
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:54,199
Speaker 1: more unofficially recognized, or can be anywhere, right, Yeah, and

457
00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,919
Speaker 1: so that thus it becomes very difficult to actually have

458
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:02,200
Speaker 1: a good count on how many Ethiopian honesteries exist. Yeah.

459
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,480
Speaker 1: Uh So so that was anyway, the legacy of the

460
00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:07,960
Speaker 1: first of the nine saints. The second one is known

461
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 1: as Pentaluon or Pentaleon, called Pentaluon of the Cell because

462
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:16,720
Speaker 1: he allegedly never once left his tiny cell after he

463
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:19,159
Speaker 1: entered it. So this guy, one of the vows he

464
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:21,600
Speaker 1: takes is a vow to be sealed in this room.

465
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:24,760
Speaker 1: He keeps his vow to remain inside for forty five

466
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:29,720
Speaker 1: years until his death. The next one is yes, shak Or,

467
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:33,719
Speaker 1: Isaac or Guarima, so that many of them have multiple

468
00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 1: names they're known by this. One is believed to have

469
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:38,960
Speaker 1: been born a prince but then became a monk. Uh

470
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 1: there's Afsy. His hagiographer writes that he never died, but

471
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:47,920
Speaker 1: instead ascended directly into heaven like Elijah or like Jesus. Yeah,

472
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:49,600
Speaker 1: so so far. Each of these are kind of hitting

473
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:52,640
Speaker 1: on like sort of traditional tropes of the holy man

474
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,680
Speaker 1: or the hermit or certainly the prince that becomes a

475
00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:59,000
Speaker 1: holy man is very much in keeping with the Buddha. Yes, yes,

476
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,360
Speaker 1: and then you got next five. No bio details on these.

477
00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:05,120
Speaker 1: Highly didn't have much about them except like when their

478
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:10,760
Speaker 1: feast days are celebrated. But you've got Gubba a Left, Yamata, Lecanos,

479
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 1: and Sema and Highly writes that the monks you would

480
00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 1: meet in Ethiopia today often like to trace their lineage

481
00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:20,560
Speaker 1: to one of the Nine Saints, so they can say, oh,

482
00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:24,359
Speaker 1: I'm of the tradition of of Yamata or I'm of

483
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:28,000
Speaker 1: the tradition of Pantaluon. But anyway, this period, the Nine

484
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:32,280
Speaker 1: Saints period would be the fifth to sixth century, and

485
00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:34,879
Speaker 1: this appeared to be a boom time for Christianity and

486
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:39,240
Speaker 1: monks in Ethiopia. Highly mentions that an Egyptian monk named

487
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:44,440
Speaker 1: Cosmos into Kopliasts wrote a visiting the coastal regions for

488
00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:47,520
Speaker 1: Ethiopia along the Red Sea in the year five five,

489
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:51,640
Speaker 1: and that Indocopliasts wrote at the at the time that

490
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:55,960
Speaker 1: the churches and the monasteries in Ethiopia were thriving. However,

491
00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:59,640
Speaker 1: sometime in the next few hundred years, definitely by the

492
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:04,520
Speaker 1: ten century, the political and religious power center of the

493
00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 1: city of Axom and and the Axom Empire was reduced

494
00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 1: to ruins, and the cause of this is not known

495
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:14,800
Speaker 1: for sure, though there are some unsubstantiated legends about an

496
00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,920
Speaker 1: uprising against the Church by non Christians, but uh, we

497
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:22,120
Speaker 1: don't know exactly what happened there. But eventually Highly writes

498
00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:25,840
Speaker 1: that the power vacuum was filled by a new ruling dynasty,

499
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:30,240
Speaker 1: the Zagway, which lasted until around twelve seventy. Yeah, I

500
00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:33,720
Speaker 1: was reading about this, this uprising in the History of

501
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:39,880
Speaker 1: Ethiopia by sahed A A Dajumbi and basically the chief

502
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:43,640
Speaker 1: antagonist that is attributed to what is sometimes called the

503
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:48,000
Speaker 1: Ethiopian Dark age was the non Christian queen good It.

504
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 1: She up, according to these these stories, usurped the throne

505
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,640
Speaker 1: by force and reign for forty years, and then passed

506
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:59,400
Speaker 1: the crown onto her descendants, who were then eventually overthrown

507
00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:05,120
Speaker 1: by Mara Takla Haimanot an Aga overlord. And then um

508
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 1: this overlord married a female descendant the Axomite monarchs of

509
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:13,720
Speaker 1: old and started the Zaga dynasty. Uh. That you mentioned already,

510
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:16,920
Speaker 1: But there are apparently a lot of inconsistencies about good

511
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:20,920
Speaker 1: It about you know, who she was, where she came from,

512
00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:25,520
Speaker 1: what exactly she did, aside from decimating the capital and

513
00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:31,120
Speaker 1: overturning the prior rule. Um. So it seems rather difficult

514
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:34,800
Speaker 1: to separate the history and the mythology. Uh. There's often

515
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,440
Speaker 1: the details of one story conflict with those of another.

516
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,240
Speaker 1: For instance, in one telling, at least she has described

517
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:45,760
Speaker 1: as being of Jewish origin, Thus good At Judith there

518
00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:49,520
Speaker 1: being potentially some connection there. Yeah, highly doesn't seem to

519
00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:51,920
Speaker 1: credit the story from what I can tell. He He

520
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,120
Speaker 1: mentions that the names applied to this woman, for example,

521
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 1: like like good Itt or Isato if she existed, are

522
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:02,240
Speaker 1: probably not even her old names, but their derogatory terms

523
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,440
Speaker 1: applied to her by people who saw her as a

524
00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:07,160
Speaker 1: villain if she was in fact a real figure. So

525
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:10,680
Speaker 1: this period seems murky, right, But whatever led from the

526
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,400
Speaker 1: collapse of the Axiom kingdom to the foundation of the

527
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:16,840
Speaker 1: Zuga dynasty is under the Zuga Kingdom that the rock

528
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,760
Speaker 1: you in churches of Loali Bella are traditionally said to

529
00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:23,120
Speaker 1: have been designed and constructed. So let's turn to the

530
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:27,840
Speaker 1: king Lolli Bella. Yes, Lali Bella, the namesake of of

531
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:32,960
Speaker 1: of the city of laali Bella, Emperor Gabre Mescal Lalli Bella,

532
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:37,200
Speaker 1: who lived one through twelve twenty one, and who again

533
00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:40,560
Speaker 1: was part of the Zuguay dynasty. That dynasty lasted from

534
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:43,320
Speaker 1: the year nine hundred to the year twelve seventy. I

535
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:45,400
Speaker 1: think that's gonna be a rough estimate on the beginning

536
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,400
Speaker 1: of it, right right, Yeah. Um, So, I've seen it

537
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 1: alleged in several sources that the name of this king

538
00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:57,239
Speaker 1: that Lolli Bella means something about bees, like quote, his

539
00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:01,280
Speaker 1: sovereignty is recognized by bees, or that it just means

540
00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 1: surrounded by bees. I have not found that claim source

541
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,760
Speaker 1: to its origin or explained anywhere that looked too solid

542
00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:10,960
Speaker 1: to me, So a question mark on that one. But

543
00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:13,000
Speaker 1: I hope it's true because I like it. It's a

544
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 1: it's an absolutely wonderful, magical gimmick for a monarch. They're

545
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,600
Speaker 1: surrounded by bees, and yeah, I did. Really this whole

546
00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:24,280
Speaker 1: dynastic um struggle that we're describing here, I just I mean,

547
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:28,720
Speaker 1: Ethiopian history is amazing and I'm glad that I'm finally

548
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:33,520
Speaker 1: digging into it. So, so the Zagua dynasty had they

549
00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:35,320
Speaker 1: had to make their capital in a new location. The

550
00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:38,080
Speaker 1: previous one had been decimated by the prior rule, so

551
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:41,560
Speaker 1: they made their capital in Roa, which later took the

552
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:44,720
Speaker 1: name of the monarch that we're talking about, Lolli Bella.

553
00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:49,120
Speaker 1: So Loli Bella is best remembered today for those these

554
00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:53,360
Speaker 1: monoliths that he builds or has built, or completes the

555
00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:55,960
Speaker 1: building building off you mean the rock you in churches,

556
00:32:56,280 --> 00:33:00,480
Speaker 1: the rocky in churches. Yeah, either he the tales you

557
00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:04,040
Speaker 1: know differ, but either he commanded their construction or he

558
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:07,600
Speaker 1: oversaw their completion. At any rate, his name is kind

559
00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,200
Speaker 1: of like stamped on them. Historically. I think there's one

560
00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:13,240
Speaker 1: other version in which his widow had at least one

561
00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:16,760
Speaker 1: of the churches built in her husband's memory. Okay, now

562
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:19,320
Speaker 1: that's the traditional telling. I was reading a short essay

563
00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:22,920
Speaker 1: about the churches by a scholar of African arts named

564
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:27,560
Speaker 1: Kristen Windmiller Luna, and she points out that archaeologists have

565
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:31,560
Speaker 1: not actually established precise dates for the construction of the

566
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,960
Speaker 1: different parts of the Lolli Bella complex, but that the

567
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,280
Speaker 1: most common view among scholars is that these churches were

568
00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:43,720
Speaker 1: probably actually constructed in stages over a longer period of time,

569
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:47,360
Speaker 1: maybe in like four or five different phases between the

570
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:50,640
Speaker 1: seventh and the thirteenth centuries. But again we don't really

571
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,120
Speaker 1: know for sure. And in addition to the traditional description

572
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,360
Speaker 1: to Lolli Bella, the king's reign would fall right towards

573
00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:01,000
Speaker 1: the end of this hypothetical multi phase construction period. Yeah. So,

574
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 1: at any rate, his name is highly associated with them,

575
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,640
Speaker 1: and of course the town bears his name. Um. And

576
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:09,680
Speaker 1: now there are some other stories you'll encounter out there

577
00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:13,000
Speaker 1: about that have alternate hypotheses for their creation. There was

578
00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:16,160
Speaker 1: one I saw mentioned in a BBC article even stating

579
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:19,360
Speaker 1: that the knights templars may have created them. But I

580
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:22,840
Speaker 1: don't think anybody really gives those stories a lot of uh,

581
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,280
Speaker 1: you know, they don't give them a lot of attention.

582
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:29,600
Speaker 1: I think this is the primary hypothesis that everyone agrees with.

583
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:33,840
Speaker 1: Wait by history channel logic is or the Knights templars Also,

584
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:36,880
Speaker 1: is that the same as the aliens hypothesis because the

585
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:43,000
Speaker 1: Knights Templars were Aliens. Knights templar extremism is like a

586
00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,800
Speaker 1: gateway to ancient Aliens. You know, if you if you

587
00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:48,960
Speaker 1: just keep following and you keep just really, if you

588
00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:51,640
Speaker 1: really want everything to be the Knights Templars at the

589
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:53,680
Speaker 1: end of it, you're just gonna wind up an ancient

590
00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:56,680
Speaker 1: Aliens territory. Yeah, that's my take on it. Not that

591
00:34:56,719 --> 00:35:00,239
Speaker 1: the templars are not in and of themselves fascinating, and

592
00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:02,560
Speaker 1: I'd actually love to come back to them. On invention.

593
00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:07,480
Speaker 1: I think they arguably a factor into some certainly some

594
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:12,000
Speaker 1: economic inventions of over time. Okay, but anyway, that's for

595
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:15,160
Speaker 1: another that's for another day. But let's explore that traditional

596
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:18,960
Speaker 1: story attributing the rock you in churches directly to Lolli Bella. Now,

597
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 1: of this, though, there are two different versions at least

598
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,480
Speaker 1: that I came across. One is that Lolli Bella had

599
00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:29,879
Speaker 1: himself visited Jerusalem sometime around say eleven eighties seven, just

600
00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:32,920
Speaker 1: before the Crusader held city fell back into the hands

601
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:36,200
Speaker 1: of Islamic forces. So like many Christians at the time,

602
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:39,520
Speaker 1: many Christians of means would have wanted to make a

603
00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:42,720
Speaker 1: pilgrimage to what they believe was the birthplace of Christ

604
00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 1: for like religious devotion, and so he would have made

605
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:50,000
Speaker 1: this pilgrimage potentially, yes. Now another version is that he

606
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:54,200
Speaker 1: didn't actually travel there, but he saw Jerusalem in a dream. Uh,

607
00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:57,560
Speaker 1: and particularly probably in a dream after its fall back

608
00:35:57,600 --> 00:35:59,880
Speaker 1: into Islamic hands. Wait a minute, I just made a

609
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,799
Speaker 1: big mistake. I said birthplace of Christ. Jerusalem is not

610
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:05,360
Speaker 1: the birthplace of Christ, but it is very important in

611
00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:10,160
Speaker 1: Christian tradition. Okay, sorry, Yeah, he came into Jerusalem on

612
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:12,719
Speaker 1: a donkey, but in none of the Gospels doesn't say

613
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:14,759
Speaker 1: he was born in Jerusalem. Sorry, I just had to

614
00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:17,319
Speaker 1: clean that up. Oh yea, no worries. Well, in either case,

615
00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:20,160
Speaker 1: either he visited Jerusalem and then it fell, or Jerusalem

616
00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:21,920
Speaker 1: fell and then he saw a vision of it in

617
00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:24,880
Speaker 1: his dreams. But then it becomes clear to him I

618
00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:28,759
Speaker 1: need to create a new Jerusalem, right here in Christian Ethiopia.

619
00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:33,000
Speaker 1: And then uh, since no one can travel to Jerusalem

620
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:36,360
Speaker 1: now among the Christians, Uh, then all the Ethiopian Christians

621
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:40,040
Speaker 1: can simply travel here and and have a religious experience

622
00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:44,040
Speaker 1: here in this city. And so thus the creation of

623
00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:49,120
Speaker 1: these eleven monolithic churches, each plunging up to fifty meters

624
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:51,640
Speaker 1: in the earth are roughly one and sixty four feet

625
00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:53,919
Speaker 1: And of course, the idea again would be that since

626
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,759
Speaker 1: Christian pilgrims could no longer trek to Jerusalem, this would

627
00:36:56,800 --> 00:36:59,680
Speaker 1: serve as a new center of pilgrimage. And indeed it

628
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 1: does remain an important pilgrimage destination for Ethiopian Christians. Christmas Eve,

629
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:09,960
Speaker 1: which is known as Genna in Um in Ethiopian traditions,

630
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:12,640
Speaker 1: is a favorite is a favorite time to visit, with

631
00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 1: people walking hundreds of miles or more to visit the

632
00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:21,040
Speaker 1: churches and engage in rights of fasting, prayer, and celebration. Yeah,

633
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 1: and that's one thing that makes these churches special. Today,

634
00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:26,320
Speaker 1: I was reading again in that piece by Kristen Windmiller

635
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:29,279
Speaker 1: Luna that some of the earliest of these structures may

636
00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:33,440
Speaker 1: have originally served civic functions like as palaces or fortresses,

637
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:37,360
Speaker 1: but at some point they became these churches as destinations

638
00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:40,440
Speaker 1: for pilgrimage, and their location makes them different from some

639
00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:41,879
Speaker 1: of the you know, you would think of the big,

640
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:44,480
Speaker 1: grand Catholic cathedrals that you might find in the middle

641
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:48,320
Speaker 1: of a huge city. Today, these churches are somewhat remote.

642
00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:51,759
Speaker 1: They're not in the center of the Ethiopian capital Adisa Baba,

643
00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:54,640
Speaker 1: and so it makes sense to think of them as

644
00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:57,359
Speaker 1: a site of pilgrimage. They're a place you would have

645
00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:00,439
Speaker 1: to go to in a journey to show your devotion. Yeah,

646
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:04,200
Speaker 1: and and we're talking about visiting these sites on mountaintops

647
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:06,400
Speaker 1: and how there's like the physical ordeal of climbing up

648
00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:10,720
Speaker 1: to reach them. And with these temples that are essentially

649
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,680
Speaker 1: you know, just dug out of these quarries in the earth,

650
00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:16,279
Speaker 1: you have to climb down to visit them. Like they're

651
00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:20,440
Speaker 1: accessible via like steep winding stairs and tunnels and uh,

652
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:25,319
Speaker 1: you know, tunnel complexes. So you have a very similar situation,

653
00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:28,799
Speaker 1: except instead of an ascent, it is a descent. So

654
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:32,440
Speaker 1: let's look at these eleven churches, all right. So, um,

655
00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:34,960
Speaker 1: they're arranged into three groups, and each one difference in

656
00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:41,359
Speaker 1: exact size rock color, architectural style, and um according to UNESCO.

657
00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:45,560
Speaker 1: Because they are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, they're translated names

658
00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:48,960
Speaker 1: are as follows. There's the House of the Savior of

659
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,000
Speaker 1: the World and this is thought to be the largest

660
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:54,239
Speaker 1: of these monolithic churches. There's the House of Mary. There's

661
00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:57,120
Speaker 1: the House of the Cross. There's the House of Virgins.

662
00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:02,600
Speaker 1: There's the House of go Gotha mick Yale, which contains

663
00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:06,200
Speaker 1: life size depictions of the twelve Apostles carved into the walls,

664
00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:09,560
Speaker 1: and apparently only four are visible to the public and

665
00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:13,840
Speaker 1: the others are kept hidden behind like drapes and curtains.

666
00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:18,040
Speaker 1: There's the House of Emmanuel. There's the House of St.

667
00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:22,560
Speaker 1: Mer Corios and this was possibly a former residence. There's

668
00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:27,360
Speaker 1: the House of Abbott Libanos. There's House of Gabriel or Raphael.

669
00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:30,399
Speaker 1: This was also possibly a former residence. There's the House

670
00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:32,880
Speaker 1: of Holy Bread, and then finally there is the House

671
00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:35,440
Speaker 1: of St. George. This is the one if you if

672
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 1: you see like an Instagram post for this podcast episode,

673
00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:42,799
Speaker 1: this is the image you're seeing because it has this

674
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:46,640
Speaker 1: kind of cruciform plan to it uh shaped like a cross,

675
00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:51,160
Speaker 1: specifically a Greek cross, and if you view it from above. Uh,

676
00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:54,120
Speaker 1: it's it's it's really when I first saw an image

677
00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:55,640
Speaker 1: of it from above, I wasn't even sure I was

678
00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:58,600
Speaker 1: looking at Yeah, there's a quality to I think you

679
00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:01,240
Speaker 1: were actually talking about this before we started recording. How

680
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:04,799
Speaker 1: it's the kind of architectural marvel that is difficult to

681
00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:09,319
Speaker 1: appreciate from a single photograph because in only seeing it

682
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:13,000
Speaker 1: from one perspective, you don't really understand what's so marvelous

683
00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:14,960
Speaker 1: about it. You have to see, like, you have to

684
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:18,239
Speaker 1: see it from multiple different photos from different angles to

685
00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:22,479
Speaker 1: start to appreciate it. Yes, absolutely, because photographs taken from uh,

686
00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:27,279
Speaker 1: from down inside the corey, the pit, where yard pit,

687
00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:29,719
Speaker 1: the cour yard pit, what if you want to call it, like,

688
00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:32,279
Speaker 1: those are impressive because you see this image of this

689
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:36,399
Speaker 1: building here just rising up and and if you don't know,

690
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:39,320
Speaker 1: you might just assume that it was built, that it

691
00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:42,680
Speaker 1: was constructed out of bricks, maybe surrounded by walls. Yeah,

692
00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:44,480
Speaker 1: but then when you see it from above, it's like,

693
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:48,319
Speaker 1: what is this strange cross surrounded by uh, you know,

694
00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:51,239
Speaker 1: by the pit on all sides. They's just sort of

695
00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:54,680
Speaker 1: emerging from the wilderness landscape all around it. Yeah, So

696
00:40:54,719 --> 00:40:57,040
Speaker 1: again this is the Church of St. George. We're talking

697
00:40:57,040 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 1: about it. I guess let's take a closer look at

698
00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:02,440
Speaker 1: this one to see what's so architecturally special about it.

699
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,799
Speaker 1: You you mentioned the idea of it plunging into the earth.

700
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:08,080
Speaker 1: I think that's the perfect way to describe the Church

701
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:11,520
Speaker 1: of St. George. It doesn't rise up from the earth

702
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:14,680
Speaker 1: like a regular church or a regular building. It rises

703
00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:18,759
Speaker 1: from the bottom of a pit. And the pit is

704
00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:23,480
Speaker 1: a pit carved into natural rock. So as you approach

705
00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:26,880
Speaker 1: the church, you're walking along a natural rock surface, not

706
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:30,600
Speaker 1: a paved area, but just exposed rock from planet Earth.

707
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:34,200
Speaker 1: And as you keep going, you realize you are approaching

708
00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:38,680
Speaker 1: a deep, rectangular hole in the ground with edges dropping

709
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:42,160
Speaker 1: straight off and from the from the top, you know,

710
00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:44,120
Speaker 1: the lip of the pit down to the bottom. I

711
00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:47,960
Speaker 1: think it's roughly twelve ms or forty ft roughly, uh,

712
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:51,040
Speaker 1: the pit being maybe twenty five meters or about eighty

713
00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:54,279
Speaker 1: feet wide square. And then in the middle of this

714
00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:58,520
Speaker 1: rectangular pit there's this huge building in the shape of

715
00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:00,759
Speaker 1: a Greek cross, as you mentioned, which looks kind of

716
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:04,200
Speaker 1: like a plus sign, approximately as tall as the ground

717
00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:06,279
Speaker 1: you're standing on. Though the edges of the pit are

718
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:08,560
Speaker 1: not exactly all at the same height, so it depends

719
00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:11,440
Speaker 1: on where you're standing. Uh, it might be taller than

720
00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:13,799
Speaker 1: where you are, might be a little below you. But

721
00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:16,239
Speaker 1: this cross shaped building in the center of the pit

722
00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:18,799
Speaker 1: is the church. And as the name suggests, again, it's

723
00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:23,520
Speaker 1: not built but carved directly out of the existing basaltic rock.

724
00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:29,000
Speaker 1: It is one unbroken hunk of natural stone released from

725
00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:32,279
Speaker 1: the earth by hammer and chisel. Yeah, it's just it's

726
00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:36,160
Speaker 1: amazing to to even think about. And we've never been obviously,

727
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:38,279
Speaker 1: I look forward to hearing from anyone out there who

728
00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:42,080
Speaker 1: has visited this site and can describe, uh, you know,

729
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:44,560
Speaker 1: what it was like to to see this in person.

730
00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:48,000
Speaker 1: But it's just it's such a drastically different model of

731
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:52,000
Speaker 1: making a building compared to everything else that has has

732
00:42:52,080 --> 00:42:54,200
Speaker 1: been the norm. You know, it's not just the case

733
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:56,239
Speaker 1: for this church. I mean this is true of many

734
00:42:56,320 --> 00:43:01,160
Speaker 1: types of sacred destinations and holy buildings. But it's weirdness

735
00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:05,360
Speaker 1: makes it holy, Like the weirdness of the architectural construction

736
00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:10,160
Speaker 1: here contributes to the alienated filth feeling. You get that

737
00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:12,640
Speaker 1: that I think, you know, it's the same reason that

738
00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:16,600
Speaker 1: you're far less likely to have a religious experience in

739
00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:19,960
Speaker 1: a in a very normal building and an office building

740
00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:23,320
Speaker 1: full of cubicles and hallways with you know, carpeted floors

741
00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:26,319
Speaker 1: and stuff. When you go into a cathedral, this is

742
00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:29,520
Speaker 1: not like the other buildings you go into. It's very weird.

743
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:32,920
Speaker 1: And the weirdness itself puts you in an in a

744
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:36,520
Speaker 1: kind of like disoriented, alienated state of mind that makes

745
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:41,080
Speaker 1: you prone to having feelings of connection with higher beings

746
00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:43,920
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. And I think the architectural weirdness

747
00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:46,680
Speaker 1: here probably does a similar thing. Yeah, I mean, and

748
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:50,000
Speaker 1: it's probably the reason why some of the tales say that, oh,

749
00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:52,759
Speaker 1: the angels helped them construct it, you know, yes, um,

750
00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:56,240
Speaker 1: which again is not to inspire anybody to go nuts

751
00:43:56,239 --> 00:43:59,280
Speaker 1: with ancient aliens stuff here, But just like the idea

752
00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:02,759
Speaker 1: that this is such a drastically different building from anything

753
00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:06,480
Speaker 1: where used to, like the divine imprint is here. Yeah.

754
00:44:06,600 --> 00:44:08,880
Speaker 1: Uh So. Another thing that's really cool about it is

755
00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:10,920
Speaker 1: I mentioned you can walk up to the edge of

756
00:44:10,920 --> 00:44:13,920
Speaker 1: this pit as the building rising up from the bottom

757
00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:15,840
Speaker 1: of the pit. The edges of the pit are a

758
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:19,480
Speaker 1: straight drop off around all the sides. So how do

759
00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:22,480
Speaker 1: you get into the church. Well, Apparently the bottom of

760
00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:27,239
Speaker 1: the pit is accessed via a narrow descending canyon and

761
00:44:27,280 --> 00:44:30,360
Speaker 1: then which which turns into a tunnel that is carved

762
00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:34,399
Speaker 1: into the rock formation nearby. So again this is something

763
00:44:34,400 --> 00:44:38,160
Speaker 1: where somebody had to carve an access ramp down through

764
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:43,040
Speaker 1: the existing native living rock there in this narrow tunnel,

765
00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:47,040
Speaker 1: and then you come out in the courtyard below. Yeah,

766
00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:49,520
Speaker 1: and I can only assume that you know this. This

767
00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:52,400
Speaker 1: is again the monastic tradition, the idea of the importance

768
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:55,160
Speaker 1: of pilgrimage coming into play here, Like it is not

769
00:44:55,239 --> 00:44:58,120
Speaker 1: a thing that should be easy to access. It is

770
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:02,120
Speaker 1: supposed to be um a journey to the bottom. Now,

771
00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:05,160
Speaker 1: apparently there are other openings in the walls of this

772
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:08,239
Speaker 1: courtyard pit which gives access to chambers that can be

773
00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:11,719
Speaker 1: used for different things like sometimes housing, I think, or

774
00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:16,439
Speaker 1: storage or as crypts. Yeah. Unesco described there being all

775
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:19,880
Speaker 1: these of these sites being connected via quote, drainage ditches, trenches,

776
00:45:19,920 --> 00:45:24,279
Speaker 1: and ceremonial passages, some of which opening to hermit caves

777
00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:27,400
Speaker 1: and catacombs. Now I mentioned there was a there was

778
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:29,560
Speaker 1: a scientific paper we were going to reference. Maybe we

779
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:31,800
Speaker 1: should take a break and then come back to to

780
00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:37,560
Speaker 1: look at that real quick, thank thank alright, we're back

781
00:45:37,719 --> 00:45:41,600
Speaker 1: all right. So earlier we mentioned a scientific paper that

782
00:45:41,719 --> 00:45:45,120
Speaker 1: would be examining some of the geological properties of these

783
00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:47,840
Speaker 1: rock hewn churches, and so this paper was published in

784
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:52,600
Speaker 1: the Journal of African Earth Sciences called Geological and Geotechnical

785
00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:55,960
Speaker 1: Properties of the Medieval Rock Hewn Churches of Lollibella, Northern

786
00:45:56,000 --> 00:46:00,360
Speaker 1: Ethiopia by Aspa Wilson, as Rot and udt I Alu

787
00:46:01,160 --> 00:46:04,320
Speaker 1: and the authors here use a metric called the rock

788
00:46:04,600 --> 00:46:08,879
Speaker 1: mass rating to characterize the constituents and the condition of

789
00:46:08,920 --> 00:46:11,960
Speaker 1: the rocks that make up the churches of Lollibella, and

790
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:15,560
Speaker 1: they found that these churches are mostly carved from quote

791
00:46:15,640 --> 00:46:20,840
Speaker 1: medium strength to strong intact scoriaceous basalt rocks. You know

792
00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:25,760
Speaker 1: what does scoriaceous basalt rocks mean? Uh, scoriaceous rocks. Basalt

793
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:30,120
Speaker 1: rocks would be dark colored volcanic rocks with a porous

794
00:46:30,239 --> 00:46:35,000
Speaker 1: or a vesicular texture, so pores or vesicles. What does

795
00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:38,640
Speaker 1: that mean in rock terms? Well, these are little holes,

796
00:46:38,719 --> 00:46:43,440
Speaker 1: basically little bubbles that are created when magma with dissolved

797
00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:47,520
Speaker 1: gas content erupts and then is exposed to the surface

798
00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:51,840
Speaker 1: and then some of that dissolved gas volatilizes and forms bubbles,

799
00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:55,600
Speaker 1: which can become hardened into the rock as the lava cools.

800
00:46:56,080 --> 00:46:58,359
Speaker 1: Uh So, a very extreme form of this you might

801
00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:00,919
Speaker 1: have encountered was probably something like hummus, you know, has

802
00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:04,279
Speaker 1: huge holes in it. Uh This, I think is not

803
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:07,000
Speaker 1: quite that porous, but still it's porous. It's got like

804
00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:10,239
Speaker 1: holes and little tunnels and bubbles in it. It makes

805
00:47:10,239 --> 00:47:13,279
Speaker 1: me think of cooking pancakes. This description make at little

806
00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:16,560
Speaker 1: bubbles on top. It's pretty much exactly like. Uh So,

807
00:47:16,880 --> 00:47:20,400
Speaker 1: the authors find several threats to the material integrity of

808
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:23,440
Speaker 1: the rock hun churches. Uh that, you know, the churches

809
00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:26,960
Speaker 1: are are somewhat vulnerable to the elements. They write, quote,

810
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:30,520
Speaker 1: most of the rock hewn churches are affected by precrving,

811
00:47:30,719 --> 00:47:36,040
Speaker 1: cooling joints, and bedding plane discontinuities, and by mostly but

812
00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:42,279
Speaker 1: not necessarily post carving tectonic and seismic induced cracks and fractures. So,

813
00:47:42,360 --> 00:47:45,600
Speaker 1: for several reasons having to do with the existing you know,

814
00:47:45,840 --> 00:47:49,400
Speaker 1: massive rock there and with things brought on by the

815
00:47:49,760 --> 00:47:54,240
Speaker 1: carving and excavation of these building faces, there are cracks

816
00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:58,080
Speaker 1: and fractures and vulnerabilities in the buildings and their structure.

817
00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:01,759
Speaker 1: But they also say though most of the churches are

818
00:48:01,840 --> 00:48:06,080
Speaker 1: hewn from medium to high strength rock, mass discontinuities make

819
00:48:06,120 --> 00:48:12,120
Speaker 1: them vulnerable to other deteriorating agents, mainly weathering and water infiltration. Again,

820
00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:14,560
Speaker 1: it's not how hard to see how porous rocks are

821
00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:19,759
Speaker 1: subject to water infiltration. Quote. The scoriaceous basalt, which is

822
00:48:19,840 --> 00:48:23,719
Speaker 1: porous and permeable, allows easy passage of water, while the

823
00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:28,640
Speaker 1: underlying basalt is impermeable, increasing the residence time of water

824
00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:33,080
Speaker 1: in the porous material, causing deep weathering and subsequent loss

825
00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:36,799
Speaker 1: of material in some of the churches and adjoining courtyards.

826
00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:40,320
Speaker 1: So while they're still beautiful to see today, these buildings

827
00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:44,760
Speaker 1: are under some material strain. Yeah. I was reading about

828
00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:47,680
Speaker 1: this um on UNESCO's website and they point out. Another

829
00:48:47,719 --> 00:48:50,480
Speaker 1: thing they point out is the drainage ditches. We mentioned

830
00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:52,520
Speaker 1: already that that's part of sort of the uh, the

831
00:48:52,560 --> 00:48:56,960
Speaker 1: system of tunnels and ditches around these structures. It's a

832
00:48:57,040 --> 00:48:59,800
Speaker 1: rock pit, you need some way to drain it. But

833
00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:03,720
Speaker 1: the thing is that those ditches were filled and filled

834
00:49:03,719 --> 00:49:06,880
Speaker 1: in with dirts some time ago, and this resulted in

835
00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:09,160
Speaker 1: a lot of flooding and water damage over the years.

836
00:49:09,200 --> 00:49:11,440
Speaker 1: Before they were then cleared out again in the early

837
00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:13,680
Speaker 1: twentieth century. I guess that that's one of the things

838
00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:16,279
Speaker 1: to keep in mind about structures that have existed for

839
00:49:16,360 --> 00:49:18,600
Speaker 1: as long as these is there's plenty of time for

840
00:49:18,600 --> 00:49:22,600
Speaker 1: the v periods of neglect, even if they are not

841
00:49:22,719 --> 00:49:26,680
Speaker 1: periods of of outright you know, assault on them. UM.

842
00:49:26,840 --> 00:49:30,280
Speaker 1: So water damage occurred, then you already mentioned the seismic

843
00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:34,200
Speaker 1: activity that seem to have damaged them as well. As such,

844
00:49:34,239 --> 00:49:37,000
Speaker 1: they are all in fairly degraded shape at this point

845
00:49:37,040 --> 00:49:41,760
Speaker 1: and require monitoring, despite the construction of shelters over several

846
00:49:41,800 --> 00:49:45,160
Speaker 1: of them. In fact, the House of Emmanuel, one of

847
00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:48,479
Speaker 1: the eleven we've missed listed earlier, is listed as being

848
00:49:48,520 --> 00:49:52,799
Speaker 1: in danger of collapse. Um. And those shelters too. And

849
00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:55,080
Speaker 1: you'll see these shelters if you look up pictures of

850
00:49:55,120 --> 00:49:58,480
Speaker 1: these today. Uh. They're quite controversial as well, apparently because

851
00:49:58,640 --> 00:50:03,719
Speaker 1: they're they're certainly sheltering these structures from the elements. UH,

852
00:50:03,920 --> 00:50:06,640
Speaker 1: but in some cases they might actually be damaging the

853
00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:10,600
Speaker 1: very structures they're protecting. Uh. And some of them are

854
00:50:10,760 --> 00:50:15,080
Speaker 1: arguably also at risk to collapse during storms, and at

855
00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:19,160
Speaker 1: the very least they impact the visual presentation and serve

856
00:50:19,239 --> 00:50:23,120
Speaker 1: according to the Associated Foreign Press as quote a symbol

857
00:50:23,200 --> 00:50:26,640
Speaker 1: of the neglect that Leli Bella residents say they and

858
00:50:26,680 --> 00:50:31,480
Speaker 1: the complex endure. On top of this, there's the degradation

859
00:50:31,520 --> 00:50:37,400
Speaker 1: to various painting, sculptures and bas reliefs inside uh the temples.

860
00:50:38,200 --> 00:50:41,480
Speaker 1: And even though the churches are protected by both the

861
00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:46,600
Speaker 1: church and the state in Ethiopia, apparently this doesn't always

862
00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:49,640
Speaker 1: translate into their being like a lot of support uh

863
00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:54,560
Speaker 1: an effort given towards the needs, because they're still according

864
00:50:54,600 --> 00:50:58,560
Speaker 1: to UNESCO quote a need for stronger planning controls for

865
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:02,359
Speaker 1: the setting of the churches that addresses housing, land use,

866
00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:05,080
Speaker 1: tourism and for a management plan to be developed. It

867
00:51:05,120 --> 00:51:09,239
Speaker 1: integrates the conservation Action plan and addresses the overall sustainable

868
00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:12,600
Speaker 1: development of the area with the involvement of the local population.

869
00:51:13,560 --> 00:51:16,759
Speaker 1: Now I was looking around, it does seem like this remains, uh,

870
00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:20,759
Speaker 1: something is being discussed and uh you know, UNESCO is

871
00:51:20,760 --> 00:51:25,840
Speaker 1: still still discussing impossible plans to better protect these churches.

872
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:28,719
Speaker 1: And there has been increased attention even in the past year,

873
00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:33,680
Speaker 1: with for instance, French President Emmanuel Macron visiting the site

874
00:51:33,719 --> 00:51:37,000
Speaker 1: of these churches in Ethiopia. Yeah, this race is something

875
00:51:37,120 --> 00:51:39,320
Speaker 1: that has come up with a number of the topics

876
00:51:39,320 --> 00:51:42,640
Speaker 1: we've done about you know, old wonderful pieces of architecture,

877
00:51:43,480 --> 00:51:45,719
Speaker 1: which is that obviously, you know, it makes sense to

878
00:51:45,760 --> 00:51:50,000
Speaker 1: put things in place to protect structures from being directly

879
00:51:50,080 --> 00:51:54,040
Speaker 1: damaged by human behavior. But when something is being sort

880
00:51:54,040 --> 00:51:59,200
Speaker 1: of like naturally weathered, uh and and uh suffering, you know,

881
00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:03,760
Speaker 1: just from the exposure to the natural forces that permeate

882
00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:06,600
Speaker 1: the environment, I think, then it becomes harder to know

883
00:52:06,680 --> 00:52:10,680
Speaker 1: exactly what to do. Like, so imagine you're just dealing

884
00:52:10,680 --> 00:52:12,960
Speaker 1: with the issue of would it be better to put

885
00:52:13,040 --> 00:52:16,160
Speaker 1: up a shelter over one of these churches to prevent

886
00:52:16,320 --> 00:52:20,520
Speaker 1: rain from falling on it or not? I mean, and

887
00:52:20,600 --> 00:52:23,240
Speaker 1: so maybe putting that up, you would say, could prevent

888
00:52:23,320 --> 00:52:26,799
Speaker 1: some water damage from accumulating over time, but also that

889
00:52:26,880 --> 00:52:30,320
Speaker 1: damage is relatively slow to happen. And in the meantime,

890
00:52:30,400 --> 00:52:33,719
Speaker 1: everybody who goes on pilgrimage to this church, now the

891
00:52:33,760 --> 00:52:37,680
Speaker 1: pilgrimage is under this big artificial shelter, right, And then

892
00:52:37,719 --> 00:52:41,080
Speaker 1: I can only imagine that a side like this offers

893
00:52:41,160 --> 00:52:46,239
Speaker 1: unique challenges as it is built unlike buildings are typically constructed,

894
00:52:46,280 --> 00:52:48,520
Speaker 1: you know, Yeah, they're there are a number of concerns

895
00:52:48,520 --> 00:52:50,480
Speaker 1: that come together here and also coming back to just

896
00:52:50,560 --> 00:52:54,200
Speaker 1: the nature of of buildings, the nature of sculpture, the

897
00:52:54,239 --> 00:52:57,879
Speaker 1: nature of anything humans have made something like like like this.

898
00:52:58,239 --> 00:53:01,160
Speaker 1: Certainly from a human perspective, it is long lived, is

899
00:53:01,320 --> 00:53:04,440
Speaker 1: very durable, It may even seem to be eternal. But

900
00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:07,840
Speaker 1: from a geologic standpoint, it is quite frail. It is

901
00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:11,399
Speaker 1: frailer than the thing that came before it. And uh,

902
00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:14,040
Speaker 1: you know, therefore, it's it's foolish to think that it

903
00:53:14,080 --> 00:53:15,880
Speaker 1: will just be able to remain down there at the

904
00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:19,320
Speaker 1: bottom of this uh, this pit and uh and remain

905
00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:21,800
Speaker 1: you know, untouched. No, I mean, it's it's going to

906
00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:25,040
Speaker 1: follow the uh you know, the natural laws of erosion

907
00:53:25,080 --> 00:53:27,879
Speaker 1: like everything else. All right, So there you have at

908
00:53:27,880 --> 00:53:33,760
Speaker 1: the churches of Loli Belah and Ethiopia, uh, just amazing structures. Again,

909
00:53:33,880 --> 00:53:37,440
Speaker 1: we have not visited this this this side in person,

910
00:53:37,800 --> 00:53:40,440
Speaker 1: but we know that we have. We have listeners out

911
00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:42,280
Speaker 1: there from all over the world, and we have listeners

912
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:45,319
Speaker 1: that are that are well traveled. In many cases, we

913
00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:47,439
Speaker 1: know some of you have been there and we would

914
00:53:47,480 --> 00:53:50,120
Speaker 1: love to hear of your experiences or if you haven't

915
00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:53,600
Speaker 1: actually been to these monolithic churches. Perhaps you've been to

916
00:53:53,840 --> 00:53:55,960
Speaker 1: some of the other monolithic churches and there are a

917
00:53:55,960 --> 00:53:58,720
Speaker 1: handful elsewhere in the world. We'd love to hear about

918
00:53:58,719 --> 00:54:01,440
Speaker 1: your experiences there. In the meantime, if you want to

919
00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:03,560
Speaker 1: check out more episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

920
00:54:04,120 --> 00:54:06,080
Speaker 1: head on over to stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

921
00:54:06,120 --> 00:54:08,640
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922
00:54:08,680 --> 00:54:10,640
Speaker 1: you can find if you can find the show wherever

923
00:54:10,800 --> 00:54:13,680
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts and wherever that happens to be.

924
00:54:13,800 --> 00:54:16,160
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925
00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:20,120
Speaker 1: rate and review us, and uh yeah, just tell a

926
00:54:20,120 --> 00:54:23,160
Speaker 1: friend to let's let someone else know that the Stuff

927
00:54:23,200 --> 00:54:25,680
Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind or our other show invention um

928
00:54:25,800 --> 00:54:28,160
Speaker 1: you know, helps get you through the day or taught

929
00:54:28,160 --> 00:54:31,000
Speaker 1: you something you didn't know about previously. Huge things. As

930
00:54:31,000 --> 00:54:34,920
Speaker 1: always to our awesome audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. If

931
00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:36,400
Speaker 1: you would like to get in touch with us with

932
00:54:36,480 --> 00:54:39,280
Speaker 1: feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest topic

933
00:54:39,360 --> 00:54:42,000
Speaker 1: for the future, just to say hello, you can email

934
00:54:42,080 --> 00:54:52,719
Speaker 1: us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

935
00:54:52,840 --> 00:54:54,680
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeart

936
00:54:54,760 --> 00:54:57,080
Speaker 1: Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from my heart

937
00:54:57,160 --> 00:54:59,800
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