The country's official name is the Federal Republic of Ethiopia. With a population of 111,652,998, according to an official estimate for 2025, it is the most populous landlocked country in the world and the tenth largest country in Africa, with an area twice that of France. Its entire territory is a vast plateau, surrounded by desert areas, with an average altitude of about 2,500 meters.

Ethiopia is a country marked by history. A place that seems to still live in biblical times.

The city of Lalibela

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church reveals its magnificence in the hills of the village of Lalibela. There lies the most precious “crown jewel” of the country and one of the true architectural wonders of the world.

In the 12th century, craftsmen carved eleven churches into the rocky ground. They dug burrows, formed internal arches, windows, rooms and columns. The most impressive feature is that most of these churches are underground, cut out of the rock from which they were carved. The entire area has now been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

As Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said: “The place has the beauty of paradise.” Perhaps, after all, the most famous anthropologists who are searching here for the remains of the first people on Earth are right.

Source: Wikipedia

yannis psilakis