Chiese rupestri antiche messo Etiopia indietro sulla mappa turistica

Kiya Gezahegne iscritto a un indisciplinato, spintoni folla circonda un prete che maneggiava un oro e bronzo trasversale 12 ° secolo, one of the most sacred artefacts in Etiopia. Un giovane uomo chiuse gli occhi e tremò da capo a piedi come gli era stato benedetto. Infine, Gezahegne stepped forward and stooped so the priest could tap the cross all over her body. “I felt close to God,” ha detto.

Steeped in ancient ritual, this was the scene revealed by dawn’s first light in the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. The cool morning air was filled with the smell of incense and the drumbeat and chanting of hundreds of pilgrims swathed in white robes, some kissing the walls. A sprinkling of foreign visitors groped through narrow crevices and labyrinthine tunnels. Earlier this year they included George W Bush and family and Evgeny Lebedev, the newspaper proprietor.

LEGGI TUTTO: The Guardian