Lalibela, in the Amhara region, north of Ethiopia, is best known for the monolithic churches carved in the rock and offers an exceptional testimony of Ethiopia's medieval and post-medieval civilization. Sacred city and pilgrimage center, the majority of population follows the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian church (Tewahido).

Configuration of the churches and names of the main buildings in Lalibela are widely accepted, especially by local clergy, to be a symbolic representation of Jerusalem. Eleven churches and a monastery, as well as several tombs and other sacred places form a labyrinthine city, dug underground. Each of these temples was carved into the mountain rock, as if they were sculptures. The church of Saint George, a monolith in the shape of a Greek cross, is the main one.