Lalibela Basaltic Scoria

The Lalibela Basaltic Scoria has been used to rock-cut churches and two-storey round huts in Lalibela. But the most historically significant structures that are made from the Lalibela Basaltic Scoria are the eleven rock-cut churches of Lalibela. The churches were carved in the early medieval times and are considered a holy site in the Ethiopian Orthodox church. Their method of construction is quite unique as all eleven structures are excavated into the ground. The churches are found interconnected via trenches and underground pathways. Skilled carvers took advantage of areas where this stone naturally outcropped and cut into it to design churches, ditches, trenches, canals and monuments. This unique mode of construction of the world heritage complex makes it an important example of rock-cut architecture in Ethiopia.
The rock-cut churches have historical significance in addition to their religious and architectural value because they are among the rare surviving material evidence of Ethiopia’s Zagwe period. A monarch of the Zagwe dynasty constructed the churches during the transitional period between the Axumite (1st–10th century) and Solomonic
(13th–20th centuries) empires, which both lasted far longer and produced a greater body of architectural works than the Zagwe period.