For every breathing inhabitant of this Swiss town, there are five skulls in Leuk Charnel House

Better known for the rejuvenating thermal baths of Leukerbad, a resort village higher in the Alps, it seems Leuk Stadt has a rather chilling core. The grand collection of skulls and bones under the parish church was practically the backbone of the town’s religion since medieval times. Today, 4,000 souls are living here (85% of them Roman Catholic) and, for every breathing inhabitant, there are five skulls in the Ossuary of Leuk.

As I stepped into this room where bricks have been replaced with bones, the setting with red curtains transported me to David Lynch‘s atmospheric waiting room, revoking the ultimate mystery of my childhood: who killed Laura Palmer? In “Twin Peaks”, spirits inhabit the space behind the curtains of the Red Room in Dale Cooper‘s dream. It is here that The Man from Another Place tells FBI’s special agent, in a creepily distorted voice: “She’s filled with secrets.”

Skulls in Leuk’s ossuary talk less than Laura Palmer. In fact, they’re missing their jaws. With such silent witnesses, it is not easy to dig into the Leuk Charnel House history. But today, we’re gonna peek inside, behind the skull wall and its meaning. Join us on the Beinhaus Leuk tour!

From flying witches to papal hair

Rising on the hills of Leuk, an imposing tower overlooks the Rhone Valley. While the belfry is Romanesque in style, the rest of St. Stephan’s Church is – Gothic. It all grew above the walls of the 2nd-century fireplace, presumably a Roman rest stop, with the first religious building appearing in the 6th century. Today’s cathedral, completed in 1514, stands on the site of six church complexes constructed successively in the Middle Ages.

Ulrich Ruffiner, the architect who finished the task, was not even born when the grand reconstruction started in the late 1470s. But the young master builder quickly gained the trust of Cardinal Matthäus Schiner and the town of Leuk, which would later authorize him for another job – transforming the residence of the Sion bishop’s representative into the Leuk Town Hall in 1541.

Even today, the rulings of the district court in this Rathaus are “supervised” by a crucified Jesus on the wooden wall. Not the greatest reminder that just a century before the burnt building’s reconstruction, the local wood was used in another ultimate justice project: the infamous Valais witch trials. The eight-year hunt that started in 1428 was the first European system to purge the society of Devil’s associates who could fly, become invisible, or turn into werewolves. All it took to end one’s life in flames was having three neighbors stating the accusation.

The main entrance to St. Stephan’s Church was closed when I visited. On the notice board, there was no mention of Leuk Bone House. Just opening hours of the parish office (once a week), a schedule of Bible readings and masses, complete with a list of parishioners who paid for them, an introduction of the new vicar from India, and an invitation to the police pastor’s presentation.

There was also one rather unusual announcement that testifies how religious can an obsession with material objects become. That’s especially surprising when it’s practiced by the same organization that would’ve labeled similar “magic rituals” as witchcraft.

On the 13th of August 2023, the Archbishop of Lviv Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, who served as a personal secretary of Pope John Paul II, gifted a piece of his former boss to the church. The relic capsule contained the pope’s hair, with a certification decree declaring: “May the people of God pray before this relic. They may, through the intercession of St. John Paul II, receive graces. May they imitate him in faith and zeal.”

If you're a fan of unusual relics, you'll want to learn the story of St. Valentine's skull in Rome!

St. Stephan’s secrets

The northern side entrance to St. Stephan’s Church was unlocked, and I stepped inside. It was just me and silence in the grand space seemingly filled to the brim with objects considered precious. It was not immediately obvious where they kept them, but the bilingual warning in an oversized font was trying to ward off the potential wrongdoers: surveillance is constant!

There was a usual set of altars, religious sculptures, and a pulpit so intricately carved that even the wood must’ve been saying its prayers. The church named after the first Christian martyr was telling a usual story. Christ was the enthroned judge, surrounded by Mary, apostles, and angels. The trumpets were calling the dead from their graves. The good were on their way to heaven, while the jaws of hell would devour the wicked.

In the southwestern corner of the church, a 1378 bell stood on display, with no worries that anyone could steal it. It’s not a piece of hair, after all. In Latin, the inscription declared: “I praise the true God, call the people, gather the clergy, mourn the dead, drive away the plague, brighten up the festivals.”

The opposite corner revealed some of the statues excavated from the piles of bones in Beinhaus Leuk, which I was still on the hunt to find. The church wall hosted a crucifix of exalted Jesus dating back to the third quarter of the 14th century. Right beside it, stood an early 14th century Pietà. It’s not just considered one of Switzerland’s most valuable statues; it has a European significance too.

Next to the 17th-century Meschler Altar in the side aisle, a set of stairs led down into the crypt. Behind the alarm-protected bars, there were more sculptural depictions of God the Father, the Mother of God, St. Sebastian the martyr, and other saints.

The thousands of skulls were still far from my sight, but one exhibit stole all my attention – a human corpse.

Leuk Mummy

In 1981-1982, St. Stephan’s Church went through yet another renovation, with plans to install a new central heating system. The excavations under the floorboards of the church found several skeletal remains. This was not so surprising as burying people inside the sacral objects was a common practice in medieval Switzerland. The dug-out human remains were reburied in the cemetery.

But in the southern aisle, close to the position of that multitasking bell bragging to equally brighten up the festivals and mourn the dead, the workers stumbled upon a wooden coffin with something special inside. Grave No. 58 was hiding a well-preserved mummy. She lay there, her fingers interlocked in a praying position on the chest.

The mysterious body that was never embalmed belonged to a nameless slender woman, probably in her fifties. The researchers called her The Woman from Leuk. The open-sided latchet shoes revealed she was buried in the 1630s, and her garments – a brownish-red ankle-length skirt paired with a white short blouse – corresponded to the Spanish fashion of the time.

While her small stature (151 cm in height) and gaping mouth with two remaining teeth screamed with questions, the mummy of Leuk was not so unique. Renovations in Swiss churches have a way of discovering bodies that refuse to decompose. Such was the case with Baron Johann Philipp in Senwald Church or Anna Catharina Bischoff in Basel‘s Barfüsser Church.

Likewise, the mummification magic in Leuk was linked to special local conditions, such as a dry climate and a humidity-protected terrace on which the church was erected.

“The fact that the individual was buried in the southwestern corner of the church in an older masonry grave attests to a certain status of the woman within the society”, the scientists wrote. “It was a privilege and sign of social distinction to be buried within the church rather than outside in the cemetery, with the most coveted places close to the altar or in the choir.”

Cloaked in a simple cape, with folded hands the conservators moved to the pelvis area, Leuk’s mummy is now displayed behind the trellised gate of St. Stephan’s Church crypt. The original casket is now covered with a glass case.

Discovery of the Leuk Ossuary

While I was trying to open every locked door in the vicinity of the crypt, I just couldn’t find the entrance to the Leuk Ossuary in this eerily quiet church. I knew it had to be in the basement, but after circling the nave, and completing my very own Way of the Cross, I practically gave up on hopes of finding the cellar of bones.

I exited St. Stephan’s Church, circled it, and suddenly found myself in a charming rose garden. On the southern side of the church, just next to a crucifix with life-sized Jesus, stood a simple wooden arched door. A little plaque was warning visitors about video surveillance. That had to be it.

Discovering the entire scope of the Leuk Ossuary four decades ago wasn’t as straightforward as just knocking on anything that looked like a door. The 1981 church renovation uncovered the original floor of the central nave, and surprisingly – found larch planks that shouldn’t have been there. Those were the beams forming the ceiling of the chamber underneath! The excavators headed down to the small ossuary chapel under the southern aisle, removed a cupboard, and broke through the thin northern wall behind it. The underworld of skulls was staring back at them.

The church council had considered the idea of expanding the chapel into a community center. For the needs of the living, the dead had to go out. They dug out the pit in the churchyard and filled it up with skeletal remains. Those beautiful blooming roses grow above a mass grave!

In February of 1982, a team of archeologists led by Georges Descoeudres and Jachen Sarott tunneled through the bones and found further discoveries nested inside. Gothic and Baroque religious statues and crucifixes, 26 in total, were sharing the final resting space with the skulls of Leuk Beinhaus. From scroll-bearing angel and knight statues to pietas and saints such as St. Magdalene, St. Sebastian, St. Michael, St. Barbara, St. Bartholomew, and St. Maurice, the collection was remarkable. Of course, there was no shortage of representations of Jesus Christ either.

The plan of building the club for the community had to be deserted. The ossuary was far larger than anyone had expected, so when they reached the current layout of the skull wall, they stopped digging. There’s still speculation that even older precious artworks from the Romanesque period might lie inside the church’s skeletal foundations.

For even more churches made of bones, head to the other side of the border. These are the most fascinating ossuaries of northern Italy!

Inside the Leuk Charnel House – painful Jesus and skull choir

Entering the Beinhaus of Leuk is like getting into a room full of people who suddenly fall silent – the eeriest surprise party. Closing the wooden door leaves the sound of the street behind, and immediately faces you with some self-reflection. Thousands of eye sockets seem fixed on you, an unblinking audience.

Between the stone floor and the wooden ceiling, the skull wall angles twice. In total, it covers 19.3 meters in length and reaches 2.4 meters in height. These skulls belonged to 22,000 individuals (maybe even more, depending on who’s doing the math). Only later I would find out that what I was seeing was just a tip of the skullberg.

Heidi, a guide who leads free summer tours of Leuk Stadt, talked to me in Swiss German. Now, that sounds like a linguistic riddle made for the Onyx system itself, but I managed to decipher; in Leuk Ossuary, there’s more than meets the eye. Behind the visible facade, the skull walls go deep, extending between 1.5 and 2.5 meters!

“There are smaller bones inside”, she shed light on the unseen layers of Leuk Charnel House. “Then again comes a wall of skulls and thigh bones.”

Meticulously arranged and balancing on each other, the skulls have a guardian in the front row, Heidi called him – a painful Jesus. The Son of God is crucified in the bloodiest representation I’ve ever seen. Several dozen hardcore wounds on the Gothic statue’s body create clusters of blood clumps that could easily compete with bunches of grapes hanging in Leuk’s famous vineyards. Between the painful Christ and the skull wall – drapes in the color of blood.

It’s a thought-provoking setup: rows of chairs facing the skull wall, framed by dramatic red curtains. There’s a theatrical feel to it. Except, the choir pressed in the wall is not performing.

“When someone dies, they close the curtains”, Heidi revealed. “The coffin is displayed here before the funeral, for three days. People come and pray for the deceased.”

The red room that resurrected my “Twin Peaks” memories thus has a double function. Lynch house is also – a lych-house, a mortuary.

Beinhaus Leuk’s Danse Macabre – where do souls go after death?

Beyond the artfully displayed human craniums, the Beinhaus in Leuk offers a literal postmortal guidebook to the medieval mind.

On the eastern wall of the ossuary, the restored Poor Souls Altar from 1506 showcases the Mother of God sharing clouds with angels and baby Jesus. Below their unreachable rosaries, the desperate souls in burning hell can only pray. Well, without those flying broomsticks, there’s no escaping.

In the center of the room, the square pillar that was exposed together with the walkway behind it in the 1982 renovation, is much more than just the foundation of the middle bundle pillar of the church’s southern arcade. On the pillar’s southern and western walls, the Danse Macabre frescoes from 1520-1540 expose Death as a carrier of both young and old, rich and poor.

The Dance of Death scene on the western side of the pillar shows half-decomposed carcasses attacking a Pope, a cardinal, a bishop, a priest, an abbot, and an entire choir of clergy. The leading cadaver aims an arrow at the Holy Father while holding an hourglass with a hand stuck through the Pope’s triple crown. “The hour is here”, says the other strangler holding the cardinal’s hat and grabbing the Pope’s cloak. The clergymen stripped of their holy hats and stoles are a reminder that even the people of the Church won’t be spared of dancing with Death. Their spot on the “dance floor” may be closer to the altar, and they may not end up on the skull shelf, but in the end, everyone turns into dust.

The second picture, on the southern side of the pillar, features skeletons armed with arrows, scythe, and bare bony hands, attacking three gents on horses and their entourage. The fresco by the unknown German-Swiss artist demonstrates that no amount of armor or bribe can buy you mercy at the meet-up with the grinning Death.

This remarkable monument of Renaissance art that doubles as an oracle of surrounding bones and skulls, has a penetrating memento mori inscription: “What you are, we once were. What we are, you will become.”

History behind the Beinhaus of Leuk

Throughout its history, the Church of St. Stephan served as a religious center of the district, spreading its authority over 12 communes. That was a lot of parishioners, and over time – a lot of dead bodies.

The cemetery surrounding the church in the old days was small, so they had to recycle the plots. Unless you were a member of the church clergy or the patrician families, privileged to rest their bones inside the church, they’d give you 25 years to rest in peace. After that, your remains were evicted from the grave and stored in the ossuary chapel.

“In the 16th century, it was generally customary in Europe to keep bones like this after a short resting period”, Heidi said. The dead had to make way for the deader. The tradition resulted in some 20 catacombs in Wallis, with the one in Naters, 30 kilometers to the east, being another notable example.

Besides just tackling the problem of an overcrowded graveyard, Beinhaus Leuk had a religious meaning too. In times when lay people couldn’t read, the bone shelves made of people gone before us were serving as an illustrative reminder that the afterlife was coming with justice. Death awaited both rich and poor (even if Leuk Mummy and other nobles buried inside the church tell us that you really had to be illiterate to swallow the idea of no privileges).

The documents in the parish archives tell us that the bone-stacking in Leuk Ossuary began in 1505. The practice continued until 1860. In that three and a half centuries, between 22,000 and 24,000 people were reduced to the anonymity of bones.

While most of them were farmers, some died of violent death. Scars and bullet holes in some skulls tell us tragic stories of poorly equipped mountain soldiers who couldn’t fend off the troops of the French Revolution, during the Battles of Pfyn in 1798 and 1799.

As I pondered on this war that swiped two-thirds of all German-speaking men in the canton, the doors of Leuk Beinhaus creaked open, and laughter dropped a visit. Four young women, giggling in French, headed behind the red curtains and started poking the skulls as if they were testing tomatoes at the supermarket. The fallen parishioners were again defenseless. Not much had changed since 1798.

Why did they hide Leuk Charnel House behind the wall?

Several theories try to explain why the Ossuary of Leuk was hidden behind the plaster wall, probably in 1886/1887.

Theory 1: Skull snatchers

In the latter half of the 19th century, there was no more shortage of vacant plots in the cemetery, so the dead didn’t need to be evicted. On the other hand, the skulls that were already displayed in the bone chapel were an open invitation to mischief for the local youth (I’m telling you, humans don’t change rapidly). Supposedly, students from wealthier families would return to Leuk for summer break, and kill their boredom by stealing skulls. So the church decided to build the wall.

Theory 2: Erasing the eerie

Another widespread theory says that the people of the 19th century simply didn’t want to look at skull walls anymore. So they erected plaster walls in front of them and pretended the skulls were never there. After a century or so, nobody even remembered they existed. Out of sight = out of mind.

Theory 3: The enigma of iconoclasm

A retired teacher and local guide André Ruffiner once suggested that Leuk skulls and sacral statues might have been concealed during the Reformation, to protect them from the iconoclasts. However, the most significant Swiss icon-smashing riots occurred in the first half of the 16th century. So it is not clear how would this theory explain the accumulation of so many skulls in such a short period, from 1505 to 1520s.

So, the real reason Beinhaus Leuk decided to build that plaster wall in the late 19th century remains shrouded in mystery.

Beinhaus Leuk Mystery – Conclusion

Our ancestors were capable of taking better care of the dead, even if it meant resorting to fake walls and misleading cabinets, the medieval version of Narnia.

Whether the bones and skulls of Leuk’s ossuary were exhumed from some colossal mass grave, or their accumulation was simply a side effect of a pressing cemetery space issue, they were treated with respect. Lined up in neatly arranged rows, they shared the stage with the church’s most precious artworks.

The ossuary concept skins everyone to sheer bones, devoid of gender, race, nationality, or social status. But Beinhaus Leuk fails to prove the point of its frescoes – that death doesn’t discriminate.

Today, Beinhaus Leuk watches over its skulls with nothing more than a feeble surveillance camera warning. That doesn’t deter certain visitors from treating someone’s resting place like a haunted house playground. These reckless tourists touch the skulls for their amusement, or even bring them home like souvenirs, seemingly without consequences.

On the other hand, down in the crypt of St. Stephan’s Church, the Mummy of Leuk and the sacral art recovered from the heaps of bones are locked away. So securely, that the mere touch of the barred door could set off alarms. For the lock of hair taken from the late Pope John Paul II as a relic to venerate, even the location is kept a secret.

This is an eye-opening contrast that confirms the contradictions of the modern Church: it doesn’t always follow what it preaches.

The ossuary that as a concept skins everyone to sheer bones, devoid of gender, race, nationality, or social status, fails to prove the point of Beinhaus Leuk’s frescoes – that death doesn’t discriminate.

The two-digit number of VIP graves inside the church shows that not everybody had to see the graveyard as a temporary buffet for microorganisms and parasites, after which one is doomed to an anonymous wall decor in a dimly lit 50-square-meter basement.

Nameless and forgotten, the thousands of skulls framed by those dramatic red curtains of Leuk’s Beinhaus rightfully resemble just a scenography. Such are bones, they do not object to how anyone treats them. In the living, their main function is to protect the organs. But who will protect the bones?

Visiting Leuk Ossuary – Quick Info

How to get to Beinhaus Leuk

The Beinhaus Leuk is located in the town of Leuk, in southern Switzerland. The town is about an hour’s drive from Bern.

There are convenient train services to Leuk from different parts of Switzerland. Once you are there, grab bus no. 471/472/473/474/475, right outside the train station, for a short two-stop ride to the town center. From there, the ossuary is 300 meters downhill, easily strolled with the help of Google Maps.

Where to stay in Leuk

Most of Leuk’s touristic infrastructure is located in the resort village of Leukerbad, the hot spot for thermal spas.

If you fancy a stay in excellently-rated hotels with their very own baths, pick between the luxurious 5-star Hôtel Les Sources des Alpes, the traditional 4-star hotel Le Bristol Leukerbad, or the modern Therme 51° Hotel Physio & Spa. Follow the links to find the best price for your travel dates!

Leuk Charnel House tickets

There is no entrance fee to the charnel house in Leuk. You can explore the location at your own pace, free of charge.

Beinhaus Leuk opening hours

The Leuk Charnel House is open year-round. The ossuary doors welcome visitors between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Exceptionally when someone dies, their body will be laid out in the coffin for three days at the ossuary, and in that period Leuk’s skulls will be out of sight.

Beinhaus Leuk Tour

From July to late October, Leuk Tourismus organizes free guided tours of the town, including Beinhaus Leuk. The tours are scheduled every Tuesday, at 2:30 p.m., and the meeting place is in front of the Leuk Town Hall (Rathaus). English may be in short supply, so bring your pantomime skills!

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Long after the death of Solferino soldiers whose remains are displayed in the ossuary, our “civilization” would proudly continue to roll countless skulls down the war bowling alley

This death-sowing 19^th-century combat was so brutal and bloody that it inspired Henry Dunant to write “A Memory of Solferino”, an influential book that would later bring him a Nobel Peace Prize, the first ever. Monstrosities of that war directly called for a more humane world, in which the Geneva Conventions and the International Red Cross would be established.

The Battle of Solferino happened on June 24^th, 1859. While entering this quiet ossuary with unburied remains of the thousands, I couldn’t ignore the fact that I was born exactly 120 years later.

If we would play naïve, we could fantasize that I came into a better world, an upgraded society that learned historical lessons. But long after the death of Solferino soldiers, and the death of Dunant himself, our “civilization” would proudly continue to roll countless skulls down the war bowling alley.

Only in the first eight months of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, between 70 and 120 thousand lives were lost. It would take more than a dozen ossuaries to display our newest bones collections.

In a horrific world as it is, the memory of Solferino fades away.

Why was the Battle of Solferino so important? What exactly happened in this small village in Lombardy in 1859? Who fought, who won, and who got defeated? Read the full story of two regional charnel houses, the Ossuaries of Solferino and San Martino!

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Ossuaries backstory: Who fought the Battle of Solferino?

The Battle of Solferino was a crucial episode in an attempt to unify the Italian states (the so-called Risorgimento of Italy). On one side, there was Piedmont-Sardinia, joined by the allies from France, and on the other – Austria.

Solferino Battle was the last major world conflict in which monarchs personally commanded the troops, which certainly contributed to the bloodshed. Without experienced military professionals, the French Army was led by Napoleon III, the Piedmont-Sardinian Army by Victor Emmanuel II, and the Austrian Army by Franz Joseph I.

Emperors brought troops into an unexpected, accidental clash. The chaotic and uncoordinated battle took place just south of Lake Garda, near the villages of Solferino (where the French confronted the Austrian corps) and San Martino (where the Piedmontese bumped into the Austrian right wing).

While the Franco-Sardinian Alliance claimed victory, and it did lead to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, soldiers treated as cannon fodder came as a screaming cost of the nation-state.

How many people died in the Battle of Solferino?

Historians have different estimates of the number of soldiers fighting in the Battle of Solferino. These can range from anything between 180 and 400 thousand, but most agree that the number was more probably 250-300 thousand.

The first official reports talked about less than 5.000 dead in the half-day-long slaughter. But when the bodies were exhumed from the battlefield in the 1870s, the Battle of Solferino’s casualties grew to more than 20,000. Some experts even double this number.

Over several centuries, one Swiss ossuary collected 22,000 skulls, managed to hide them, and then forgot all about them! Learn the fascinating story of Leuk's secret charnel house!

How did the idea of the Red Cross start?

Henry Dunant (Jean-Henri Dunant) was a Swiss businessman who came to Italy to obtain Napoleon’s approval for exploiting water resources in Algeria. But what he ended up experiencing was the horror of war.

Thousands of instantly killed on the battlefield, thousands wounded and then unscrupulously executed, thousands dying with no access to medical help…

The French army, for example, had more veterinarians than doctors. The lives of humans who were not capable of fighting anymore seemed to be disregarded as useless.

Shocked by the suffering, Dunant stayed in Solferino to organize medical treatment for the survivors, regardless of their nationality. It was here that the phrase “tutti fratelli” (all brothers) was coined.

In 1862, Henry Dunant published “A Memory of Solferino”, a graphic report of the battle he used as a tool to convince political heads of Europe that something needed to change. His lobbying efforts led to the founding of the Red Cross, as well as the setting of the Geneva Conventions, the protocol for humanitarian treatment in war.

If you want to read the war report by the father of modern humanitarianism, you can order “A Memory of Solferino” here, in paperback, hardcover, or Kindle version.

Ossuaries of Solferino and San Martino – keeping memories with dignity

Due to a large number of fallen soldiers scattered over the fields of Solferino and San Martino, proper burial was impossible. To prevent the smell, they were all just quickly covered with soil in wide ditches.

A mass grave was not the most hygienic solution in the long run. However, for epidemiological reasons, health legislation allowed the exhumation of dead bodies only when 10 years have passed from the burial.

In 1870, the remains of the corpses were dug out and respectfully placed in two charnel houses. A church in Solferino and a chapel in San Martino became the final resting places of soldiers from both sides.

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Ossuary of Solferino

Slightly uphill above the street it lent a name (Via Ossario), the Ossuary of Solferino is in the heart of a little cypress forest that envelops a gravel path leading to its entrance.

The first neighbor of the Museo Risorgimentale di Solferino, the ossuary offers another perspective on the resurgence.

Originally, it was a parish church, the oldest prayer house in Solferino, but during the 1859 battle, it got severely damaged. War wounds on the Church of San Pietro healed over a decade, and in 1870, the renovated building opened up as an ossuary, a home to the remains of 7,000 soldiers.

The church entrance is still marked by a mosaic of a saint it is dedicated to (Saint Peter), joined by a mosaic of Christ below, and a statue of Madonna above. On the right-hand side of the entrance, there is a memorial plaque honoring Henry Dunant’s idea of the Red Cross, with a famous sentence “Inter Arma Caritas“ (Among arms, charity).

The interior first starts with black busts of the French generals that quickly get overshadowed by a staggering wall of skulls in the apse.

The crypt reveals more neatly displayed bones, under the national flags of France, Austria, and Italy.

The side altars also hold cages of bones stacked on shelves, organized according to type.

Behind the bars of two additional rooms, one can see complete skeletons, and more partial skulls and bone collections.

Ossuary of San Martino

Also at Via Ossario, but in the village of San Martino, once an ordinary chapel that belonged to the Santa Giulia monastery in Brescia, and dated back to at least 1042, became a charnel house in the 19th century.

In rural surroundings, a path lined with trees, memorial stones, and monuments to battalions and brigades leads to the ossuary chapel of San Martino della Battaglia. Its exterior walls are adorned with plaques remembering the figthers for Italian unification.

Behind and bellow the chapel’s altar, the remains of fallen individuals from both sides are displayed. The apse contains 1.274 skulls stacked on top of each other, while the crypt topped by an iron railing holds the bones of 2.619 soldiers.

One can learn more about the battle on the other side of the road, where a museum and a memorial tower have been erected.

Just like its counterpart in Solferino, the Ossuary of San Martino is also nestled in a quiet area, far away from the usual tourist interest, providing a peaceful place for reflection and contemplation.

Entry to both ossuaries is free of charge, but one can leave a donation at discretion.

Where to stay in Solferino and San Martino?

If you are looking for a place to stay in the vicinity of the ossuaries, the following are your best options.

In Solferino, consider booking a family-run Hotel Ristorante Alla Vittoria dating back to 1909, Locanda All'Avanguardia set in a 1920s building, or a newer Affittacamere Residenza Del Duca.

In San Martino della Battaglia, find your bed in a 19th-century building of Cascina Le Preseglie, rest by a modern pool at BeBDoremi, or opt for a farm stay at Agriturismo Almavite.   

Follow the links to find the most recent prices and property photographs.

Ossuaries of Italy – Conclusion

Just a few kilometers south of Lago di Garda, more known for the lively streets of Peschiera del Garda and the so-called death train of Gardaland amusement park, there is a rather different perspective on life and death.

Far enough that typical touristic noise, screams, and laughter completely die out, rows and rows of silent human skulls wait to be seen.

Our memory is a construct, and we naturally prefer to fill it with events that will not disturb us.

When Henry Dunant wrote “A Memory of Solferino”, he aimed to do exactly the opposite. He disturbed his readers and made them change the ways we fight wars.

Red Cross and the Geneva Convention are, however, just small victories in our arming-obsessed era. Dunant lived before the 20th century saw conflicts on a global scale, and before the 21st century continued developing advanced weapons as if we were expecting to attack extraterrestrials and not our first neighbors.

Under our war uniforms, we are all the same bones and marrow

Ossuaries of Solferino and San Martino are not just resting places of no-name soldiers, sacrificed for the greater good as decided by their leaders. These charnel houses are also deeply moving monuments. They remind us that under our different skins, war uniforms, and national flags, we are all the same bones and marrow.

Stacked together on shelving, just like soldier bodies previously on the battlefield, the skulls of Solferino and San Martino have no nationality. They are bare witnesses to the senselessness of wars.

There are no winning and losing armies once we turn to dust.

What are your thoughts on ossuaries, these churches made out of bones?
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With an open beak, a gigantic bird nestled on the top of Bukit Rhema, an unassuming hill in Central Java. Not something you stumble upon every day, and certainly not while exploring remote villages of Southeast Asia!

The church shaped like a chicken had to resemble a dove. That’s how its builder Daniel Alamsjah saw it in his vision. But a different nestling hatched.

The peasants had their own name for the crowned bird. They called this temple of prayer – Gereja Ayam, the Chicken Church. The name stuck. Nobody saw a dove from Daniel’s vision anymore!

Some screen time helped the hen-shaped building reach international fame. Tourists started paying pilgrimage to the site, not necessarily with religious intentions. The Indonesian Chicken Church became the second-best reason to visit Magelang Regency. Just after Borobudur, and before other sunrise peaks in the area, such as Punthuk Setumbu.

Check out the impressive work of the Ethiopian Christian builders - churches in Lalibela carved out of solid rock!

Daniel Alamsjah – the Indonesian Noah?

“I’m a Christian”, Daniel Alamsjah told me, while standing in front of the silent proof of his faith, the enormous building shaped like a bird.

Exactly behind him, two sculptures of angels were blowing into trumpets. One could argue that all three of them might have had the same mission, to alarm the world the end times were approaching.

After the great Biblical flood, when an Ark with paired animals stranded on Mount Kardu, a dove brought Noah the olive leaf as a sign of safety. Could Daniel’s dove on the top of this Indonesian hill, 40 kilometers outside of Yogyakarta, be a similar signpost for those who look for salvation?

This contrite, seemingly doddered man standing before me, did not radiate the leadership of a chosen one. Yet, God spoke to him in the 1980s! And not many believed in this divine intervention.

Four decades after Lord’s instructions to build the prayer ark, and years of great debt floods, a House of Prayer for All Nations is still a work in progress.

In the neighboring island of Bali, there is another impressive feat of one Javan artist - the largest Vishnu Statue in the world! Check it out!

Indonesian Chicken Church was shaped by visions and voices

“One day, I was on this hill to pray to God. After a long prayer, I heard the voice that told me to build a church here”, this tenacious 77-year-old explained the Gereja Ayam origin.

Visions started back in Jakarta, where Daniel Alamsjah worked at the time. He ended up in the import-export-trading company only after a priest’s prayer miraculously healed his lung disease, and he managed to pass the medical exam for the position. His career was advancing. Daniel would often recognize the invisible hand of God leading him to the path that eventually resulted in the Chicken Church of Indonesia.

Daniel went to the hill infested by snakes to receive God’s construction plan

After one night’s prayer, an image of the hill with a House of God appeared on the walls of his Jakarta home. Daniel didn’t understand this message at first. But after he visited his wife’s family in Magelang, he stumbled upon a hill that looked the same as the one from his vision. Daniel connected the dots.

The hill was infested by snakes, but he decided to spend the night there in prayer. The words from the Bible appeared in front of him, explaining that he was chosen by the Lord to build this holy house. He should stay brave, as God’s plan would eventually come true.

Very soon, God’s hand brought the owners of the hill to him, interested to sell the land. Daniel took the money from his son’s college account and launched a project that even his own family would not always support.

Passion has fueled many bizarre architecture projects in the world. One of these is Crazy House Dalat in Vietnam!

It’s a bird! It’s a house! It’s a Chicken Church!

The construction of the Chicken Church in Indonesia started in 1992 and quickly arrived at the first obstacle. In a predominantly Muslim country, the project of a Christian man building a ‘church’ on a hill that will later become known as Bukit Rhema, was under a magnifier.

But Daniel was persistent. Every weekend he would travel from Jakarta and back, to monitor the construction site 500 kilometers away from his home.

It took one media report in 1996 to launch an avalanche of complaints against the project.

Daniel tried his best to explain that his prayer house would be open for people of all religions; Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and even atheists.

His building permit was not revoked. However, the construction came to a stop in 2000, because of a lack of funds.

In Vietnam, where only 6 percent of inhabitants are Catholics, one can also find impressive evidence of their faith: the enormous statue of Jesus Christ in Vung Tau!

When the financial problems occurred, the idea of a snow-white dove resting in Bukit Rhema was left over to the jungle. After Daniel decided to add the crown on the bird’s head, everyone saw it as a rooster’s crest. Gereja Ayam, the ‘Chicken Church’ name was hatched.

But the same way as the local newspapers practically led to the shutdown of the Gereja Ayam project, the international media coverage of the strange building infused new life into it.

The Daily Mail and Huffington Post published articles on this unusual piece of architecture. Abandoned in the Javan jungle for 15 years, the Indonesian Chicken Church gained a new spotlight.

Fueled by curiosity, modern-day explorers rushed in. Daniel could start ab ovo.

In France, there is a church that, according to locals, looks like an upside-down elephant! Find it in Lyon!

Bird building for the love birds

“Many Buddhists come and support”, Daniel told me. “They visit Borobudur, and then they come here to sleep and pray. And they give donations! Thanks to them, and to your tickets, I can invest further in the building!”

Couples were choosing to marry in the Chicken Church. All religions, Daniel confirmed. “Are you single?”, the passionate wedding planner asked me with a spark of hope in his eyes.

Truth be told, the love birds never really deserted the chicken temple, even in its official abandonment phase (2000-2015). For couples from the nearby villages, the church that looks like a chicken was supposedly a safe place to get physical, away from the eyes of their not always supporting families. Vulgar graffiti and images of naked ladies became standard wall decorations in those years.

Today it is different, Daniel Alamsjah convinced me while we posed for a photograph in front of the columns with a heart-shaped decoration at the top. The message was “Welcome to Bukit Rhema, We are one”.

Inside the Chicken Church, framed images of married couples, in a variety of traditional costumes, hung on the wall.

The fact that a scene from the second sequel of the cult Indonesian movie “Ada Apa Dengan Cinta” (AADC – “What’s the Deal with Love”) was shot here, certainly contributed to the popularity of the Chicken Church in Indonesia. Especially as a sunrise spot, because the actors climbed on the dove’s crown at dawn.

Daniel Alamsjah's work cannot beat in popularity the largest religious complex in the world - the temples of Angkor!

Chicken Church Indonesia’s underground chambers

In the basement of the Chicken Church, I found a variety of prayer rooms, serving different religious needs. From Christ’s nativity scene in a niche in the wall to the room with carpets facing east, this cave-like labyrinth of Chicken Church underground chambers catered for visitors of different denominations. Just like Daniel Alamsjah imagined, the House of Prayer for All Nations!

But these were not just the communication rooms with the “other side”. As I’ve learned from this grey-haired visionary, the Chicken Church was used also as a therapy center. The catacombs were a place of rehabilitation for disabled children, problematic youth, drug addicts, and even people with psychiatric diagnoses. You know, those who had visions, and heard voices. Well, let’s not go there now…

The other floors also had murals celebrating the rehabilitating mission of Gereja Ayam. There were paintings of young people alienated by technology, seduced by cigarettes, conquered by alcohol, and abducted by narcotics. The messages were clear and simple: “Say no to drugs!”

Northern Italy has some rather unusual churches too. In the ossuary church of Solferino, thousands of skulls and bones decorate the walls. 

Is this chicken-shaped building in the Indonesian jungle – a church?

Even if it was nicknamed a Chicken Church, there were no regular church rituals performed in Bukit Rhema. Gereja Ayam was more of a venue catering to the specific spiritual needs of its visitors.

The ambiance of the main hall, with its wide-open space, and rosette-openings on the ceiling in the shape of a cross, did emanate a feeling of some neo-gothic cathedral. But tiles with a simple flower design, and heart-shaped stones thrown here and there, were just basic symbols, implemented by an architect without a diploma, and not some medieval master.

The exhibition of photographs presented Chicken Church’s history.

A table and chairs mounted with broken mirror glass, like a kind of disco balls, were more reminiscent of some Lady-Gaga-style video set-up than of church space. It was obvious, this was a very loose interpretation of how a prayer house should look, with no interior or exterior design dogmas followed.

A mouse jumping from the stairs leading up to the dove’s head, the viewpoint, seemed like something one could expect in an old church. But there was no bell tower, nor would we meet Quasimodo the hunchback by climbing to the top.

Only a dove head, adorned with a chicken crown, pointing towards Mount Merapi, Indonesia’s most active volcano. The pupils of the eyes of the Chicken Church had the shape of a cross. Obviously, there were numerous ways of witnessing one’s Christian faith. God works in mysterious ways.

People in the Philippines express their Christianity by nailing themselves on the cross. Read more about the Pampanga crucifixion at Maleldo Festival!

Fowl of Liberty in the Indonesian jungle

Daniel Alamsjah did not chicken out when he received the messages he interpreted as the word of God. He invested his life savings in a dream that didn’t have a promising business plan.

He trusted voices nobody else could hear, and visions nobody else had seen.

Thirty builders engaged in a project directed by a man with no background in architecture, to erect the jungle church of enormous proportions.

When Daniel decided to add the Statue-of-Liberty spikes on the head of his dove, hoping that the crown would elevate the building’s holy status, he did not imagine that other people could interpret his vision differently.

But he embraced the branding of the Chicken Church, trusting that strange are the ways of the Lord. The growth of the visitor numbers enabled the sustainability of the building process. It also enlarged the tourism potential of the villages around Bukit Rhema, where nobody expected it.

Chicken Church – Indonesia’s monument to faith as a personal thing

Before the Chicken Church in Indonesia received media coverage as a blessing for its future, one amateur painter in Borja, Spain, engaged in a similar journey of incredible bravery. In 2012, Cecilia Giménez (82) attempted to restore Ecce Homo, the century-old fresco of Jesus. Her devastating restoration, in which nobody could recognize Christ anymore, resulted in worldwide mockery. But it also attracted hundreds of thousands of tourists to this rural area of Zaragoza, helping the local economy in a way that no marketing expert could replicate.

For all that it matters, Gereje Ayam could resemble a pelican!

You see, it is not really essential whether Daniel Alamsjah’s church looks like a chicken or a dove. We shouldn’t care even if this House of Prayer resembled a pelican! It is a grandiose realization of a crazy dream of an unstoppable man. Something most of us would never do in our lives! A monument to taking risks and expressing faith.

Locals could not understand the eccentric project of a visionary in the 1990s. But with the expected future tourism development in Magelang, it could happen that the Indonesian Chicken Church becomes the one laying – golden eggs.

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My wandering through Ethiopia brought me to an impressive cluster of Lalibela churches! Dubbed the Ethiopian Jerusalem, this holy site of Orthodox Christianity is a monument to centuries of faith. Carved in solid rock, Lalibela churches are an unexpected surprise connecting the Earth and the heavens.

Whether you are looking for God or just exploring the history of human marvels, this Lalibela church guide will introduce you to Ethiopia’s most fascinating underground treasures!

But before we dig into this museum of architecture, some background info!

How old is the Ethiopian Church?

Christianity officially entered Ethiopia in the 4^th century, during the reign of the Aksumite emperor Ezana.

The Kingdom of Aksum in the area of Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea had a strategic position on the Red Sea. Money makes the world go round, so the nation on the route between India and the Roman Empire accepted Christianity. They even had the world’s first coins with a symbol of a cross!

The man who brought the new religion over was Frumentius, a Syrian Greek, the nephew of a merchant who was murdered during a stopover on the coast. After years in slavery under Ella Amida‘s reign, he was freed and became a child tutor to the heir of the late king.

Frumentius baptized the new emperor Ezana and, with the approval of the Patriarch Athanasius of Alexandria, became the country’s first bishop. For sixteen centuries, until 1959, when the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church gained autocephaly, the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt was always appointing its bishops.

The conversion of the king of Ethiopia to Christianity was just the beginning. By 340 AD, the majority of the kingdom turned Christian. Ethiopia became the second country in the world (after Armenia) to proclaim Christianity as the state religion.

However, there are references claiming that Christianity started in Ethiopia even earlier, in the 1^st century. After Judea, the apostle Matthew preached the word of God in Ethiopia until his death.

Among numerous mentions of the country’s name in the Bible, one is especially significant. According to the New Testament, Philip the Evangelist baptized an Ethiopian eunuch on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. This early conversion of a person who was different in every way (race, ethnicity, sexual minority) seems to be a fantastic lesson for the less inclusive ‘Christians’ of today!

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims to be one of the earliest capitals of Christianity. Read about another spiritual capital of the Orthodox Christian world - the Monastic State of Agion Oros!

Lalibela church history – a dream of the African Jerusalem

In the 6^th century, Aksumite king Kaleb founded the city of Roha in the Lasta Mountains in the South. The Islamic Empire soon took control over the Red Sea, and the kingdom started to decline. They moved the capital from Aksum to Roha.

In the 12^th century, a boy surrounded by a swarm of bees was born there. It was interpreted as a sign of good fortune for the kingdom’s future.

The boy who would later become king was named Gebre Mesqel Lalibela (the world Lalibela meaning “the bees obey him” in English). His youth was also mysterious; Lalibela had visions and talked to angels.

A voice in King Lalibela’s vision instructed him to build a new home for Christianity, the second Jerusalem

The king made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem seven years before it would fall into Muslim hands. The siege of the holy city in 1187 meant that Christians would not be able to visit it anymore. A voice in one of Lalibela’s visions instructed him to build a new home for Christianity, the second Jerusalem.

In the highlands of Ethiopia, more than 3.500 kilometers away from the town where Jesus was crucified, the ‘New Jerusalem’ was taking shape. Lalibela church bundle literally rose from the ground, dug out of the mountain floor. With clear inspiration from biblical places, they even named the town river – Jordan.

The extraordinary feat of rock-cut churches honored the most famous king of the Zagwe dynasty, and the town of Roha changed its name to Lalibela!

A man in Indonesia has also built a church after receiving instructions in a vision. Check out this very peculiar Chicken Church!

Rock-hewn churches of Lalibela – architecture made by angels

According to the Gospel written by that same apostle Matthew who preached all over Ethiopia, in the most famous biblical name change, Simon became Peter. Jesus named the first leader of the early church: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Maybe Lalibela was very literal in interpreting the word of God, so he laid the cornerstone of the ‘New Jerusalem’ in – stone.

Technically, Lalibela churches were always there. They just needed to be carved out of the mountain formed 31 million years ago.

Lalibela rock churches were built by hand, using just hammers and chisels to excavate trenches, and then shape the monoliths into churches, imitating the traditional look. Doors, windows, columns, archways, vaults…

There was not much room for error while working on the volcanic tuff rock. No space for fixing mistakes during the Lalibela church construction.

In total, there are eleven rock-hewn churches in Lalibela. Each carved from a gigantic block of natural rock, they differ in style. Additionally, they built a complex system of tunnels and subterranean passageways to interconnect the churches.

Lalibela architecture is a fascinating monument to the passion of its builders. According to some (doubtfully reliable) sources, it took merely 23 years to build Lalibela churches, which would have been an extraordinary achievement in the Middle Ages!

But Lalibela architects had help! After the human workers would call it a day, the angels would take over the night shift. That’s at least how believers explain the remarkable speed at which builders erected the black Jerusalem.

Aksumite civilization clearly had high skills in working with monoliths. Learn more about it in our article Kingdom of Aksum: History and myths written in stone. 

Lalibela churches mystery of attraction

When Lalibela started materializing his extraordinary dream, he was aware that Jerusalem was attracting Ethiopians. The king knew they would try to reach the holy city, at least once in their lifetime, even despite the dangers imposed by the Muslim takeover.

Building a New Jerusalem, closer to home, fulfilled their need for elevated religious experience, and they started flocking in.

Until these days, the palmers were coming from all corners of Ethiopia, sometimes walking barefoot and fasting. For some of them, reaching Lalibela town might be an end of a several-month-long journey. That kind of devotion is considered to be proof of strong faith that God would honor.

In the Philippines, pilgrims testify their faith on Easter in a rather extreme way. They are crucifying themselves during the Maleldo Festival!

You can witness the magical attraction of Lalibela churches first-hand, at any moment of your visit.

Pilgrims gather in white robes, with sticks or umbrellas in their hands, resting in front of the rock-hewn churches, on carpets or bare stone.

Some sing in churches. Some read their Bibles in front of the buildings, alone or seated in a group. Others quietly pray while leaning against the churches’ walls, showing ultimate respect to these monuments of Orthodox Christianity.

You can witness ordinary life there too. Women plucking the seeds of teff, the national grain of Ethiopia. Simply tacked sheds on the churches’ grounds, with a size of a typical Japanese capsule room, suggest certain believers live on the premises. It’s life at its simplest. A sheep might pass by at any moment! And it will!

After the Sunday mass, some worshippers might visit the place with holy water nearby, to shower. Then the priest might touch parts of their bodies with a ritual cross, to clean them from the inside too. Lalibela church mystery comes in many forms.

On special occasions, such as Christmas, thousands of pilgrims arrive in Lalibela. Locals feed them and wash their feet at the end of their journey. Check out what the Christmas celebration looks like in Lalibela churches in the coverage by CBS 60 minutes on Youtube!

Guide through Lalibela churches – the sacred monoliths

There are 11 rock-hewn churches in Lalibela town. We can divide them into three clusters: five churches in the Northwestern group (symbolizing the earthly Jerusalem), five of them in the Southeastern group (symbolizing the heavenly Jerusalem), and the last Lalibela church standing alone, in the West.

It’s up to you to decide which ones you should see first. The Northwestern group is the closest to the ticket office, the lonely Bete Giyorgis is a masterpiece of its own, and the Southeastern group seems to provide more tranquility, with fewer crowds.

If you want to dig deeper into the mysteries of Lalibela, consider purchasing this Lalibela handbook!

It’s useful to notice that Lalibela underground churches carry different names in different sources. Google maps might say one thing, UNESCO could disagree, Lonely Planet might insist on their version, and locals could be using completely different wording.

It could get confusing, trust me! Well, I tried to keep the nomenclature I found the most often used, even if it might seem inconsistent. I did mention the other name versions where I found them to be relevant.

Without further ado, what are the 11 rock-hewn churches of Lalibela?

List of the 11 rock-hewn churches of Lalibela

1. St. George Church – Bete Giyorgis – House of St. George

Lalibela church of St. George (Bete Giyorgis, sometimes spelled Bet Giorgis or Biete Ghiorgis) has a shape of a Greek Orthodox cross.

While other rock-hewn churches of Lalibela typically have a rectangular plan, the cruciform layout of St. George Church secured its iconic status. The view from one of the uplifts reveals that the roof contains several reliefs of crosses, one inside the other.

This Lalibela church was the last one built, and supposedly by the orders of Saint George himself. In one of his visions, king Lalibela encountered the saint after the completion of the other rock-hewn churches.

George was not happy about being forgotten, so Lalibela commissioned another church, in his name. St. George turned out to be impatient as well, as they claim he worked on the construction site at night.

For many, the most impressive Lalibela church stands 13 meters tall, in a pit of 25 by 25 meters. When observed from above, Bete Giyorgis (House of St. George) seems hardly accessible. But there is a narrow descending trench spiraling around it, leading through a covered passage that eventually opens in the church courtyard.

Life and death join here. The baptismal pool is the start of the Christian life, while the holes in the side walls hide burial tombs of the ancient pilgrims. There are even people living in some of these little caves!

Inside the church, there are various paintings of Saint George defeating the dragon. Some are hidden in the sanctuary behind the curtain, together with the replica of the Ark of the Covenant, a typical artifact reserved for the eyes of the Ethiopian priests only.

Twelve windows in the upper part of the church let the sunshine into its dark interior, with sunrays adding to the mystic atmosphere created by the incense smoke.

Did you know you can build your own Lalibela church? This jigsaw puzzle is perfect for the modern architect's mind!

2. Bete Medhane Alem – House of the Savior of the World

Bete Medhane Alem is not just the largest of the 11 rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. It is also considered to be the largest rock church in the world! It has 33,5 meters in length, 23,5 meters in width, and 11,5 meters in height!

According to some, this large monolith is a rock replica of St. Mary of Zion Church in Aksum, the one neighboring the chapel with supposedly original stone tablets of God’s Ten Commandments.

The simple architecture of Bete Medhane Alem (House of the Savior of the World) is marked by 34 external and 38 internal pillars. It also features keyhole windows and doors, typical of the Aksum style.

Its spacious interior with a nave and four aisles gets packed on Sundays, as the worshipers gather to be blessed by the famous Lalibela Cross.

The ornamented processional cross, made of 7 kilograms of gold, supposedly has healing properties. You may see the priest rubbing the pilgrims with it, in order to cure them of diseases.

This 12^th-century cross was absent from 1997 till 2001 when it was stolen and sold to a Belgian collector for 25 thousand dollars. I assume they keep it in a safer place now!

Same as at Bete Giyorgis, the courtyard walls have carved-out holes, functioning as tombs or cells for the monks.

3. Bete Maryam – House of Mary

A short tunnel away from Bete Medhane Alem, another courtyard is revealed, dominated by Bete Maryam (or Biete Mariam). The House of Mary is obviously dedicated to the mother of Jesus and is supposedly the oldest of Lalibela rock churches.

The interior of the nave and four aisles are decorated with frescoes and relief carvings. While you can see various geometric designs and paintings such as one of the bulls fighting in the ceiling, one column containing holy inscriptions has permanently been hidden behind a cloth since the 16^th century.

Bete Maryam is the only Lalibela church with porches.

Above the western one, you can see a carving of St. George killing a dragon. Cross and swastika-shaped windows also draw attention.

The eastern wall is especially symbolic. The upper set of windows represents the Holy Trinity. The lower windows depict the Calvary of Jesus. The central windows represent the ascent of Christ to heaven. The lower right window stands for the criminal who repented on the cross, thus there is another opening above that window. The other crucified sinner went to hell, so there’s an opening below the window representing him.

4. Bet Meskel – House of the Cross

On the northern side of Bete Maryam’s courtyard, Bet Meskel (or Biete Maskal) is a small chapel with two aisles only.

There are paintings of Jesus and Mary displayed on some of the pillars of the House of the Cross.

Its tiny size and the priest with pocket-size Bibles might be the biggest ‘attractions’ of Bet Meskel.

5. Bet Denagel – House of Virgins

On the southern side of Bete Maryam’s courtyard, another tiny chapel is carved into a rock.

In Bet Denagel (Bet Danaghel), there’s just enough space for a couple of benches and a canvas with another representation of St. George fighting the dragon. With his image being everywhere, it seems everybody took it seriously when the saint got offended on that occasion!

Bet Denagel is the House of Virgins. Virgins are the 50 nuns that were murdered in the 4^th century by the orders of the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate from Edessa. The church resembling a cave is honoring the memory of these martyrs.

In northwestern Greece, stonemasons have also been building their churches out of stone. Check out how stone became the cornerstone of the Zagori landscape!

6. Bet Golgotha & Bet Mikael – House of Golgotha Mikael

Further west, Bet Golgotha and Bet Mikael are the twin churches, the only part of the Northwestern group of Lalibela churches I couldn’t approach closer during my visit, due to restoration works.

UNESCO calls them together – Biete Golgotha Mikael (the House of Golgotha Mikael).

Bet Mikael (which is also known as Debre Sina, the Church of Mount Sinai) is known for its relief-carved crosses and cruciform pillars.

Bet Golgotha with its life-size carvings of the twelve apostles is off-limits to women and adjoined Selassie or Sillase Chapel (Trinity Chapel) is closed for anyone but priests.

Supposedly, Lalibela’s final resting place should be under the floor of Bet Golgotha. A Portuguese priest Francisco Alvares described the tomb in 1520 when it was still accessible. He said a heavy stone slab was covering the crypt. There was a hole in it, and pilgrims could touch the grave of the king-saint. The extracted dust was supposedly healing diseases.

In this holy complex, there are also replicas of the tombs of Christ and Adam, as well as the Nativity crib. I’ve managed to see the Tomb of Adam only from above. Supposedly, it is just a hollow block of stone. But what more do you expect from a symbol?

7. Bet Gabriel-Rufael – House of Gabriel and Raphael

Bet Gabriel-Rufael (also Biete Gabriel-Raphael, and all other word combos) is the first edifice you will encounter when approaching the Southeastern group of Lalibela churches through their main entrance.

Follow the path called the Way to Heaven, and a monumental rock-hewn church will appear in front of you!

Also known as the House of Archangels, this twin church has an impressive exterior. To access the building, one needs to cross the bridge carved in the rock over a deep trench. This moat fills with water when it rains. To keep it, there is an underground cistern below the courtyard, with two circular wells.

The stairs and the terrace suspended over the abyss are quite an imposing sight. If you’re not afraid of approaching the void, this Lalibela church offers a great photo opportunity (scroll to the end of the article to see mine)!

Once inside, this fortress looks quite simple. The entrance opens to Bet Gabriel first, and then there is another doorway to Bet Rufael. Apparently, there should also be hidden rooms below the main church plan.

Some experts believe that the House of Gabriel and Raphael was actually a royal palace built in the 7th century. The idea was to provide a fortified shelter for the emperor after the collapse of the Axumite Kingdom in the North.

8. Bet Merkorios – House of St. Mercoreos

If Bet Gabriel-Rufael was accessed via the Way to Heaven, the next Lalibela church is approached via the Passage through Hell.

There is a pitch-black underground tunnel, 35 meters in length, and according to tradition, one should pass it without turning on any light! That includes mobile phone torches.

Well, it’s an experience! A survivable one, as long as you step forward slowly and mind your head!

Finally, some light will emerge, and this will be the exit to Bet Merkorios, also written as Bete Mekireriwos, or Biete Qeddus Mercoreus… Linguistics gets complicated, right?

Mercurios (let’s write his name this way, just for the sake of diversity) was a Coptic saint in the 3^rd century. Emperor Decius tortured and beheaded him because he refused to abandon Christianity.

It is not unusual that this church got its name after a martyr. The evidence of the iron ankle shackles discovered here suggests that the House of St. Mercoreos could have been Lalibela town’s prison or courtroom.

Today, it is another sacred place, with beautiful frescoes and paintings depicting the saint, Christ, and apostles.

9. Bet Amanuel – House of Emmanuel

The only freestanding monolith of the southern cluster is Bet Amanuel (Biete Amanuel). It was carved with great attention to detail, reproducing the characteristic features of the ancient Aksumite and early medieval architecture.

With 12 meters in height, the House of Emmanuel has alternating layers of protruding and indented walls, mimicking the style of Debre Damo Monastery or Yemrehana Krestos Church, built with a combination of wood and stone.

The same as in the case of the other clusters’ main monolith representatives, this one is also surrounded by hermit cells and grave chambers carved in the moat walls.

Bet Amanuel was supposedly the private chapel of the royal family.

10. Bet Lehem – House of Holy Bread

There is not much information about this church with oval walls. Resembling more a monastic cell, with its low ceilings, Bet Lehem (Biete Lehem) has no typical church inventory.

Deriving its name from the Hebrew ‘Bethlehem’, it could have been just a royal bakery, where they produced the holy bread.

Speaking of holy bread, if you visit Lalibela rock churches during the busy Sunday mass, you will see the communion service is with real bread distributed among the faithful. Typically, that involves children and elderly people. Those in the middle, at a sexually active age, should avoid taking the Eucharist.

11. Bet Abba Libanos – House of Abbot Libanos

Bet Abba Libanos (also Biete, sometimes Aba) is dedicated to a 6^th-century Ethiopian saint of the same name. He got famous for his teachings on monasticism.

The House of Abbot Libanos differs from other Lalibela churches in a way that it is just partially underground. Wedged between the top and bottom rock, it was built in the hillside cave.

According to the legend, Bet Abba Libanos was constructed in a single night (consequently, it is not strange it had to go through many restorations!).

The builder was Meskel Kebra, the wife of King Lalibela, with the help of several angels. Just like her husband, she is also considered to be a saint and is buried in Bet Abba Libanos.

Check out how Hindus express their faith also in caves! Temples built in Batu Caves attract more than a million visitors during Thaipusam Festival!  

Lalibela churches protected by UNESCO. Or not?

In 1978, the 11 churches of Lalibela were inscribed on UNESCO‘s list of World Heritage Sites.

Besides the Ethiopian rock churches, the protection also includes Lasta Tukuls, the neighboring ancient village with two-story roundhouses. These traditional dwellings are constructed from local red stone, they have staircases inside and thatched roofs above.

In 2008, the European Union has funded the raising of the protective shelters above some of the churches. The ugly-looking coverings were supposed to shield the most vulnerable buildings from disastrous weather. Even if the umbrella-style structures were imagined as a temporary solution to the problem, they are still standing today.

Gas station roofs, as locals like to call them, started to represent a threat to the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. First of all, they are heavy and could collapse. Secondly, they were intended to keep churches from becoming too wet. And now the Ethiopian rock churches are the driest ever, which is also not good for their longevity.

Different nations celebrate their beliefs in different ways. See how this Vietnamese Jesus came to be in one of the least religious countries in the world!

Things to know before entering Lalibela churches

There are certain rules of conduct when visiting the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. Don’t be that idiot that just takes loads of images with no respect towards the locals who actually come there to pray! These are simple top 3 rules to know before stepping inside Lalibela church:

1. Take your shoes off before entering Lalibela rock churches! You can leave them at the entrance, like everyone else! As for the rest of the dress code, wear something covering your shoulders and knees!
2. Observe the locals! If you see men and women entering churches at the separate entrance, respect that, and follow the example!
3. Do not take flash photography in the church! There is a reason, I guess, why they wrote the warning in German (“Bitte brauchen sie keinen flash in die kirche”). In any case, don’t be disrespectful with the clicking of your camera. Nobody is your private model! If you do get permission to photograph someone, express your gratitude with some Bir!

Speaking of photography, I had a very peculiar adventure in Bete Giyorgis, marked by an international incident. Check out my report on obsessive photography, and how to avoid the police once they come for you!

Lalibela church entrance fee

The adult ticket costs 50 US Dollars (45 Euros). Children’s tickets are half of that amount. The tickets are valid for 5 days. All sites could be visited in one full day, so if you stay longer, relax, and do it at a human pace!

Beware that bringing in video cameras could impose an additional fee. I decided not to take my GoPro camera, as they know it can record video footage. At the same time, other cameras that look like photo cameras, as well as mobile phones, were totally fine to carry in.

Lalibela churches opening hours

The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela officially open from 8 am till noon, and then after a lunch break, from 2 till 5 pm. You’re allowed to come earlier without entering churches, and witness Bete Giyorgis at sunrise for instance!

11 rock-hewn churches of Lalibela – Conclusion

If there would be a competition for the eighth world wonder, Lalibela rock churches would be a solid contender.

In Ethiopian highlands, hidden in the ground, the sacred landscape reveals itself, strengthening the faith of believers for centuries.

They come poor and leave rich. They come sick and get a cure. In these manmade caves, they find God.

The fantastic structures were built from top to bottom. Nobody else builds a house like that in this world! This makes Lalibela churches a very special example of medieval architecture. Buildings that are essentially sculptures do not cease to amaze.

There are not many long-lasting legacies in the world. With poor standards of Ethiopian housing, rock-hewn churches that survived centuries have to be divine. So divine that, when conservators were working on protecting these rocks, priests would collect the dust from the drilled holes. It’s a sacred stone they have! After all, they were designed by angels!

Ethiopia might not be on everyone’s radar. But if you decide to give it a chance, and literally dig under the surface, you might be surprised by what you find!

About Lalibela

Lalibela location

Lalibela is located in the Amhara region, in the North Wollo zone. This mountain town is some 645 kilometers away from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

Lalibela altitude: 2.480 m

The population of Lalibela town: 17.367 (2007 census)

How to get to Lalibela?

It may look close on the map, but reaching Lalibela town from Addis Ababa by bus will take two days (overnight stopover in Dessie).

For travelers coming from western Ethiopia: If you go to Lalibela from Bahir Dar, it will be a one-day ride. Traveling by bus from Gondar will again require spending the night somewhere.

For travelers coming from northern Ethiopia: If you go to Lalibela from Aksum, you will need to stop over in Mekelle and probably once again in Weldiya. Unless you make a purposeful stop in Mekelle for visiting the Danakil Depression, as I did, in which case your desert trip agency can drop you off at Lalibela directly as mine did!

Of course, van transport is always quicker than the bus. It all depends on the experience you want to have. And risks vary when you travel Ethiopian roads.

The fastest way would be to fly in, as Lalibela has its own airport.

Where to stay in Lalibela?

If you’re looking into where to stay in Lalibela, check the best offer of Lalibela hotels here.

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