l'm continuing my journey to see 80 of the world's greatest treasures.
This week l travel through holy lands on the quest to understand
man's compulsion to celebrate the gods through works of eternal beauty.
lt's ajourney which will take me from the romantic
and most contested places on Earth,
to hidden gems of Ethiopia.
Over the past three months
my cultural marathon has covered
the Americas, Australia and Asia.
Now l find myself in the Kingdom of Jordan.
l'm heading towards the centre of a great hidden city.
A city lost for centuries
yet stands at the heart of the Holy Land.
The deep and twisting gorge, or seek
is the gateway to one of the most extraordinary and mysterious places ever created by man.
Of all the ancient ruined cities of the world l've seen on my journey,
Petra is in a league of its own.
Here's Petra's great architectural treasure.
Al Khaznet.
lt's eh, sculpted from the rock face -
- and beautifully preserved,
like ajewel in a casket,
protected by the cliffs that rise all around it.
lt's a - very, very sophisticated piece of classical design.
Beautifully, delicately detailed,
dating from, it's now thought, the first century B.C.
Al Khaznet means treasure.
The Bedouin thought this building was so wondrous
it had to contain a treasure from Egypt,
so it means 'Treasury.'
But really what else can it be?
Well, a tomb perhaps.
A temple? Almost certainly.
Some people see it as a great calendar,
but what is absolutely clear from the central figure,
which is lsis, the Egyptian goddess,
which the Nabataens had taken to their hearts.
And this temple faces east towards the rising sun.
So, with lsis up there and its orientation would suggest
it's to do with - birth, with life, with fertility.
Gosh! Just look at this room.
Absolutely incredible.
lt's a sort of natural marbling.
This is the wonder of Petra.
The beauty of nature - - combined with the er, with the skill of man -
- to create a very, very special place indeed.
Petra was built by the Nabataen people more than two thousand years ago.
At its peak, the city was home to thirty thousand people,
before being finally abandoned around one thousand years ago.
The Nabataens were merchants who controlled the Holy Lands' key trade routes.
These links brought influences from the great ancient civilisations of the region.
The Greeks, the Romans and the Egyptians.
The cliffs are alive with tombs, alive with death l suppose.
l say as l look around everywhere l see doors cut into rock faces,
all of which would have contained bodies of the people
that once lived here when this was a thriving city.
The Tomb of the Obelisks has echoes of Ancient Egypt.
To Nabataens
the obelisks represented the souls of the dead
buried in a tomb.
Wow! lnside there are - one, two, three, four, five -
- main burial places
and this is clearly the most important one,
there's a great big arch above it -
- and over this texturing on the stonework - is all this soot blackening.
l suppose that's from centuries of Bedouin inhabitation.
These nomadic people would have come up here,
lit fires, cooked and then moved on.
lt's likely the Bedouins are responsible for clearing all the tombs of their contents,
including any treasure.
The portal here - the door,
leads to what's now called a triclinium -
- which is simply a banqueting room
with benches on three sides.
There are many of these in Petra -
- used to celebrate the gods,
or perhaps part of the ritual of funerals.
A funeral feast would be held in here.
l leave behind the most beautiful graveyard on Earth
and climb the Nabataens' holy mountain.
Phew!
This is the high place of the Nabataens,
their sacred acropolis.
This is where - they would pray to their gods.
Dus-Sara in particular, the god of the mountains.
They'd kneel, the Nabataens
and look to the altar over there
on which there would have been some abstract image of Dus-Sara.
A rock bigger but this will do.
l'm on the altar now, rather wicked really,
and you can see from here the world as seen by the Nabataens
from their very special holy high place.
l head higher into the realm of the mountain god.
My sturdy mule is on autopilot,
as he surges up the narrow path teetering on the side of the deep gorge.
lt's like being on a magic carpet with a mind of its own.
After a forty minute climb, l reach the monastery.
A building just as imposing as the Treasury where my journey began.
Good boy.
This is a - twin of the Treasury down below.
lf that's to do with the feminine, with birth,
it looks east towards the rising sun -
- this is more to do with death, with the masculine.
lt looks west towards the setting sun -
- and is probably the masculine god - Dus-Sara.
lmagine what it was like two thousand years ago.
These communities of travellers and traders from all over central Asia and Europe,
coming here -
- and suddenly burst into this wonderland of perfect classical architecture.
The lost world of the Nabataens is only known to us
for the monuments they built to their dead.
The beginning of the end came
when Petra was annexed by the Romans in 106 A.D.
and the city declined as a trading centre.
lt was later devastated by two huge earthquakes.
My day is not over.
l have a dinner date with Bedouins
who once took shelter in the tombs.
l'm hoping they will tell me about Petra's ghosts.
Excellent. What a nice gentleman? Excellent.
Are there Bedouin stories and myths -
- about some of the buildings, they're very haunting, aren't they?
They have many stories that they were stoning them, those spirits.
Stoning them?
Yeah, as they walked by night.
He was stoned by - by spirits and um,
then he - he lost conscious.
He was unconscious for twenty-four hours.
Gosh, l must say perhaps we should um,
sort of come down to Earth and sample some of this delightful food.
- This is the Bedouin food. - Oh, l say.
- This is bread. - Bread, yes.
- And rice. - Yes.
This is a whole lamb.
ls it lamb, lamb, oh lovely.
Umm. Now these, what are these -
l haven't seen these, what are these things?
Testicles.
Oooh! How did these chaps know l was partial to a testicle?
He's very well endowed this sheep.
Good Lord, this is massive.
Very fine. Nothing like a good testicle.
The following morning l leave Petra
and head along one of the great trading routes of the ancient world.
The King's Highway.
This monotonous desert landscape
was once the holy epicentre of three of the world's major religions.
Judaism, Christianity and lslam.
My next treasure is
in the small Jordanian town of Madaba.
This church may look pretty ordinary.
lt was built in the 1890s in fact. But -
- it contains a remarkable treasure.
The oldest known map of the Holy Land showing Christian sites.
Only a fragment survives,
but it still throws fascinating light
on the Holy Land fifteen hundred years ago,
before the age of lslam and when Christianity was a dominant religion.
This mosaic was created in about 550 -
- and was the floor of an early Christian basilica.
Originally it measured twenty-four metres by six metres.
This is what's left.
lt is utterly remarkable.
l'm standing here on the Mediterranean coast -
- so this is the west.
What we have here - is a um, an extraordinary detailed vision of this sacred land.
There is the ancient city of Jericho,
surrounded by date palms. And here -
- the earliest map of the city of - Jerusalem.
Here it is with its wall.
Oval in form.
Here is the great Roman street
going through the centre of the city with columns on each side.
And of course the great Christian monument here - is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre -
- shown upside down with its yellow dome,
the greatest Christian church in the world at the time.
Over there, Bethlehem. lt's -
- like a tourist guide to the great sites
and l imagine Christian pilgrims coming here from all over -
- and look at this map and know where to go.
l decide to follow one of the great pilgrimage routes to Mount Nimo.
A sacred site which helps explain how the rival faiths of the Holy Land
locked horns in a seemingly endless cycle of violence.
l'm standing on one of the most extraordinary and powerful places on Earth.
Because right here, according to the Old Testament,
the Lord showed Moses the Promised Land.
Stretching before me to the west.
Jerusalem, Jericho, Bethlehem,
the Dead Sea, the Holy Land.
Now lsrael and the Occupied Territories,
formerly Palestine.
The lsraelis believe this ancient text
and promise is alive today as in the past
and therefore underpins and supports their case for possessing the Holy Land.
A terrain that here looks incredibly romantic and peaceful,
but which we know is tragically a scene of -
- turmoil, conflict and misery.
All because of a promise made right here where l'm standing now.
The following morning l leave Jordan
for the Promised Land of the lsraelites.
We drive along the banks of the Dead Sea
towards Jerusalem.
lt's a city which is holy to
three of the world's great religions,
yet for centuries has been divided by fear and suspicion.
The Temple - Mount in Jerusalem is my treasure,
because it contains one of the most inspirational
and mysterious buildings in the world.
A building which, according to the Old Testament,
was designed according to God's own specifications
and in its forms, details,
proportions and contents enshrined
and revealed the laws of beauty and harmony and the secrets of creation.
Most of Solomon's Temple has long since vanished.
Destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
two and a half thousand years ago.
But Jews, Christians and Moslems
each view Temple Mount as sacred.
Now, a late seventh century lslamic shrine,
the Dome of the Rock,
stands on the top.
Before the rise of the Christian and lslamic faiths,
three great temples were built in succession on Temple Mount.
The focus of worship for the ancient lsraelites going back three millennia.
The last - reconstruction of the Temple took place in about 20 B.C.,
undertaken by King Herod.
And that wall in front of me,
the lower portion anyway,
dates from that time with these spectacular - very large, beautifully cut blocks.
This portion of the western wall of the Temple
is known universally as the Wailing Wall,
the site most sacred to Jews.
People there are praying, men on the left, women on the right.
Praying towards the wall,
putting little messages, prayers in the chinks of the wall.
They're not praying to the stones, it's more -
- abstract than that.
They're praying to the heart of the Temple Mount -
- to the foundation stone enshrined, buried within the Mount, which they believe -
- is where God started his creation.
So how did a site venerated by Jews and Christians
end up having lslamic buildings on top of it?
ln 638 A.D.
Moslem forces captured Jerusalem
and built a mosque and their own shrine,
the Dome of the Rock, on the Mount.
Today it's one of the most tense
and fought over places on Earth.
The top of the Mount
is administered by Moslem Palestinians,
but is ultimately under the control of lsrael.
Beneath the Dome is a huge and rough hewn lump of rock.
This is what Temple Mount is all about.
The rock is sacred to Moslems,
Jews and Christians
because they all believe it to be the place where Abraham,
the primary patriarch of all three religions,
planned to sacrifice his son, lsaac.
ln addition for lslam
it is the rock from which Mohammed ascended to heaven.
But there's another reason why Temple Mount
means so much to all three faiths.
The Temple of Solomon is said
to have been home to the Ark of the Covenant.
God's throne on Earth and a casket
containing the Ten Commandments
as handed down from God to Moses.
So what happened -
to the Ark of the Covenant,
this great treasure of the lsraelites?
Well, there's been much speculation over the centuries,
but really no one knows.
The Ark, it is said,
stood in the holy of holies,
in Solomon's Temple,
and it could have been hidden in a secret chamber deep in the Mount,
just before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple,
and the Ark could be there to this day.
There's also another story.
Solomon had a son by the Queen of Sheba
and Solomon gave his son the Ark
to take back to his homeland, Ethiopia.
Many have searched in vain for the Ark of the Covenant,
including Crusaders after they captured Jerusalem
in the late eleventh century.
l too am determined to take up the quest, however unlikely.
Ethiopia's problems of war, famine and poverty,
are all too well known.
But looking down on the land
it's beautiful, fertile, lush,
with valleys, gorges and plateaus.
lt looks like the Garden of Eden.
And of course this is an intensely - biblical land,
with the values of the Old Testament
becoming part of the culture of the country.
As the Ethiopians say,
'this land has a religion that goes back -
- to the days of King Solomon.'
The connection with Solomon starts here,
in the ancient City of Axum.
The Ethiopian legend goes
that the Ark was removed from the holy of holies in Jerusalem
while Solomon was still alive.
So King Solomon's son, Menelik,
the son he had with the Queen of Sheba,
is said to have brought the Ark of the Covenant here, to Axum,
nearly three thousand years ago.
The Ark of the Covenant, God's great gift to man.
The Ark containing the secrets of creation.
Unlikely as it may seem,
this building could contain
one of the great treasures - of the world,
which holds the answers to all of our questions
about where we come - from and where we're going to.
May l enter this building to look at the Ark of the Covenant?
Only one monk inside.
Even the Bishop not inside.
So um, the one monk is inside now
and this one monk apparently, the guardian monk,
can never leave this building.
He has to stay in the building, in the compounds, all his life.
His mere task, or his great task is to er,
well, keep people like me out.
So what do you recommend l do now,
if l want to get nearer to the building?
Monk is not to talking for tourists for any something.
lt's every day pray, even in the outside.
He prays twenty-four hours a day,
seven days a week?
Yes. Never outside.
This is a - this is an admirable monk.
Um, all right, so there must be some other person then l can speak to.
lf he's never - um, never leaves the building,
clearly speaking to him is rather difficult
since l'm the other side of his gate.
So there must be - is there somebody else?
Other head priest.
Head priest.
That's the very man l need to see.
lt's not encouraging but if,
against all the odds, the Ark is here, l just have to see it.
Hello.
Thank you very much for er, allowing me to visit you. Most kind.
Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to Axum.
What does the Ark - contain now?
Does the head priest know what's inside of the box so to speak?
The holy Ark contains the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments and it's inside gold box.
l'm going to ask this question now
which l know maybe is a presumptuous question,
but are there any circumstances in which
l could be allowed to approach or indeed even to see the Ark of the Covenant?
Okay, he says that the Holy Ark of the Covenant is not to be seen.
l cannot go and see it, now,
even in any special circumstances,
because l say l've come a long way
and l've come from Jerusalem in quest of the Ark of the Covenant.
The high priest ended up warning me
that if l saw the Ark a terrible fate would befall me.
l'd be turned to ashes.
But one glimmer of hope does remain.
Most Ethiopian churches contain
copies of the Ark.
There's a priest who may be able to help me see one of these,
according to Raphael whom l meet in the town square.
And what about the Ark of the Covenant,
that's interesting - isn't it?
Sometimes copies of it are taken round the town by the - monks.
Yeah, walked around but that mass is -
- On Sunday? - Not original.
Not the original, l know.
The real one lives in there.
Yeah, the real one, yeah, he's in here.
- Ah, hello. Being guarded. - Yeah -
- he's a big guard.
With his AK47, well.
ls there any chance - will you translate for me?
l want to ask him is there any chance of me
being able to see one of the copies of the Ark of the Covenant?
l know the original one's there
but there are copies in the church,
can l see them?
He will not say for any peoples.
He see only the priest.
The priest also you will not see but you just see only one monk.
lt's the same old story.
Yes, there are copies,
but l can't see them.
l'm frustrated.
So near and yet - and yet.
Can the Ark of the Covenant, one of the oldest and most powerful sacred objects ever created,
really be - in that modern building over there with its crumbling mosaics
and the street lamp sticking out of the top of it?
l can't see it to really protect me - from the power of the object,
if l see it l'll be cursed.
l fear it's a treasure too far.
My trip to Axum is not, however, wasted,
because it possesses another ancient and mysterious treasure
which could date back as much as two thousand years.
l'm exploring - the ruins, the remains of Axum which was,
two thousand years ago, a great city.
The kingdom that ruled this land
was the most powerful kingdom between the eastern Roman Empire and Persia.
This is um, carved granite
and is one l believe of a series of stelae,
these great obelisks that stood here in this site which was the necropolis of the city
where the kings and leading members, the elite of the land were buried.
Everywhere you look in Axum there are toppled stone obelisks known as stelae.
More than three hundred of them.
lt's like stumbling upon Stonehenge after an earthquake.
This whole area is the remains of a royal cemetery.
Beneath my feet could lie the skeletons
of long dead kings and queens of a lost empire.
My god, just look - at this monster.
lt's the largest of the stelae.
lt was originally one stone and it was the largest -
- carved stone monument from the ancient world.
l'm told it weighs five hundred tons
and this great object originally stood thirty-three metres above ground level.
Just think of the technology, the organisation of this kingdom,
to be able to quarry, cut, carve, transport
and then erect an object of this size.
lt absolutely beggars belief.
And what's incredible, nobody really agrees about its age.
lt's thought that most of the stelae
date back to the early fourth century A.D.
Though some are certainly older, others more recent.
A single stone rising twenty-one metres high and -
- what's astonishing,
it is conceived as a um, as a building, as a sort of mini skyscraper -
- because here is a door.
And above me are windows and floors.
Clearly if a monument to the dead,
this must have been the dwelling of the dead.
And this er, obelisk - faces south,
facing the sun
as it goes on its course from east to west.
The sun must have been very important
because we have here - discs, sun discs right the way up.
So l suppose the dead soul had some relationship to the sun,
would take energy from the sun,
would in a sense, continue to live.
ln which case this obelisk is a phallic symbol,
a symbol of fertility.
The stelae, which are topped by the Pagan image of a sunrise,
are symbols for life and rebirth.
Yet strangely there are hints of Christianity too.
The windows can also be interpreted as crosses.
This suggests a remarkable continuity between old and new beliefs after
Christianity arrived in the Ethiopian royal court
in the fourth century.
l chance upon a wedding
and it's revealing to witness
how memories of ancient kings and queens,
perhaps even Solomon and Sheba,
live on as part of Ethiopia's unique brand of Christianity.
The next day l'm up at the crack of dawn.
l head north out of Axum.
A gruelling six hour drive lies ahead.
At this early hour
you can really understand why Ethiopia
is described as 'God's country.'
l'm travelling with Samson Mekonnen,
who can guide me to my treasure,
a notoriously difficult thing to see,
as l'm about to find out.
l'm on my way to Debre Damo,
to the oldest monastery in Ethiopia,
to l hope, see a treasure that will give me
more facts about the legend of the Ark
of the Covenant coming to Ethiopia.
Debre Damo dates from the time of Ethiopia's legendary nine saints
who spread Christianity through the land in the fifth century.
The monastery houses a remarkable collection of ancient manuscripts.
l'm aiming to see the most important and sacred of these.
Almost as the monastery Debre Damo, and there it is -
- this great rock
rising very high with vertical sides.
On top of this sort of plateau sits a monastery. The road -
- is nowjust getting below this monstrous obstacle -
- which we have to ascend.
Looks pretty daunting actually.
God - looks very high.
We must proceed with care.
We've had word from London that not far from Debre Damo
there are mounting border tensions
between Ethiopia and neighbouring Eritrea.
You have any energy to climb up.
Yeah, energy.
But those people are being pulled, are they not?
l mean l don't think l could climb twenty metres myself vertically.
They're being pulled by what, by monks at the top?
Yeah - monks.
Hey, let me take this. l've got to get up -
- this sheer - Yeah.
- cliff face, about twenty metres. - Yeah, yeah.
So you see this one? How? Okay.
We put this - round your waist here,
and haul you up.
Okay, shoes off, yeah. Do that first off.
- So. - Yeah?
How often does it break this safety thing?
l presume they haul heavy things up there.
Carcases of dead animals.
Things as heavy as me anyway.
Well yeah sometimes people they pull up oxes,
so don't worry.
So they should just about handle me. Okay.
You'll be fine for sure.
Like that?
Yes you see that's your belt.
That's my safety belt.
Oh, what's that?
Maximum security.
Maximum?
Two loops.
l see l get a double loop.
Oh this is very um, like a boatswain's hoist,
it's very sort of nautical.
- Okay, shall l get going? - Yeah.
This one, this one.
Okay.
Someone's going to have to pull a bit more. Whoah.
Hang on, am l going too far to one side?
Yeah. Just try to keep your balance.
- l'm getting the hang of it a bit, yes. - Yes.
Get my feet in.
Yes. Oh, wait, wait.
Pull a bit more. Hang on.
Couldn't stand there, you see.
l'm about two thousand metres above sea level.
Nearly three, it's three thousand actually.
- Three thousand. - Yeah.
Take a breather half way up.
The experience is l can say er, exhilarating, thrilling. A little bit
How you feeling now?
- it's a bit alarming. Phew.
This bit's a bit slipperier.
Oh, got a foothold, that's it.
You keep on pulling.
This bit's more difficult,
l can't - hang on.
That's it.
Not too elegant but did the business.
Oh, wow. Wonderful, thank you very much.
All these men needed to pull me up.
Or assist me in my climb.
The treasure l hope to see
is a book called The Glory of Kings, or Kebra Nagast.
But l've had worrying reports of a fire in Debre Damo's library
which caused extensive damage.
So Samson, what chance of seeing the Kebra Nagast,
the Book of the Glory of Kings?
l know they have a copy here so will we see it?
Well my experience is never be sure about this thing.
Yeah, if they like us.
But this is kind of a key text, isn't it,
because it's offering some -
some facts about this legend of the Ark coming with Menelik.
That's sure. l mean that's for sure. l mean er -
lt's a document.
lt's a document. lt's a - it's an inheritor, you're talking history.
The history of the church, the history of god,
the history of Ark of the Covenant, the history of kings too, so.
This is - this is the church right here, it's sort of sixth century.
This is the oldest church in Ethiopia.
Golly.
What an intriguing building, Samson the church is.
No mortar, it's all dry stone, isn't it?
Yeah, it's lovely.
And er, what do we have here?
We're admiring the church.
You don't - you don't point your hand like that.
- Don't point? - Yeah.
Okay, l stand advised on that.
Yeah, l mean you know it's a -
l won't - without pointing lets go in. After you.
Yeah, we can go.
Yeah we can't find the Kebra Nagast here.
l know there was a um, a fire quite recently
and the library was damaged.
ls that why it's not longer around?
Was the book, was the manuscript destroyed?
Yeah, the books, including - as he said, Kebra Nagast,
including Kebra Nagast and other heritage, treasure of the church, destroyed.
Well, okay, l understand.
This is - this is rather like the Ark of the Covenant,
things are clearly quite complicated and hard to - to see.
But l mean there are other manuscripts here l know
that survived the fire.
l mean can l -
can l see any other doc - any old documents?
Out of this building there's another library.
So you - there are books there.
Oh, well we can visit the library then -
- if that's agreeable.
Yeah let me take you to the library.
lt's disappointing,
but then l'm told l can see something equally wonderful.
The most important book to survive the blaze.
Ah, oh gosh, okay.
lt says Tambla Mariam.
Miracle of Mary.
Miracle of Mary. Mariam.
Okay, it's like other books l've seen
so it's about the Virgin Mary and the birth of Christ.
So l mean how old is this as far as these priests are concerned?
More than one thousand five hundred years.
More than one thousand, five hundred years.
lf l could see the illustrations l'd be a very happy man.
Oh this is the first one is it? Ah, my goodness me.
So what are we - what are we seeing here?
Yeah, father.
He's the father, he's the founder of this.
No, no, no. l mean god father.
- That's god? - Yeah.
Shown as an image. That's quite bold.
So that is an image of god? And if -
- we go on, this is fascinating.
Ah, Mariam, Mary.
Mary.
And St George. Gosh, and there are more?
Yeah, there is one more l think.
Ah, the crucifixion.
Yeah crucifixion of Christ.
With - there's Mariam, Mary crying.
l must say - you know, seeing a book like this - that dates back, well, fifteen hundred years,
incredible, always having been on this site.
The site for which it was made - an individual, unique,
to use that word and it's absolutely right,
use it it's a complete unique -
- a book that's so important to people in this country
it's really overwhelming to see it.
And out of all that -
- it's a beautiful object artistically, isn't it?
lncredible.
The miracle of Mary is one of the most moving examples l've seen
of the ancient art form of the illuminated manuscript.
l doubt whether it's really fifteen hundred years old,
but that's not the point.
ln the eyes of the monks it comes alive.
There's real sacred power.
l still have two more treasures in Ethiopia.
l hope to find both in the small town of Lalibela
in the Lasta Mountains.
lt's now a backwater,
but was once one of the Africa's great cities.
About 850 years ago,
King Lalibela, the man who ruled this - beautiful land,
had a vision.
He believed the Star of David had moved from the Holy Land,
from Jerusalem, to Ethiopia.
And he wanted to create here in his kingdom,
the new Jerusalem and a new holy land all rolled into one,
with rock cut churches commemorating,
representing the most sacred sites,
the most sacred buildings,
the most sacred places in and around Jerusalem.
This is St George's Church and um, it's absolutely sensational.
A very tall structure carved, burrowed out of this very hard rock,
granite really.
lt's quite incredible.
lt's a two or three storey building.
A perfect geometrical form -
- the Greek cross and lovely detail.
Beautiful windows here at the top, like um, they're called ogi,
pointed arches, rather lslamic.
The technical achievement,
the technical ability to create this, the will, the manpower,
it's incredible evidence of a great civilisation here.
This is really one of the Wonders of the World this church.
lt's a mystery why Lalibela's builders
chose the laborious option of carving the churches and pathways
deep into the volcanic rock.
Perhaps it's to do with Christ's body being entombed in a cave.
Or even the sacred nature of the rock itself,
as at Temple Mount and Petra.
So l'm in this great trench.
Oh gosh, there's tombs over there cut into the side of this trench.
Obviously burials have taken place.
My goodness, look at this.
There's a body still here.
A pair of bodies, mummified.
Great Scot! The skull, feet, skin.
There's a passageway cut right the way round,
it's obviously honeycombed - with burial chambers.
You know, it's great to get up closer to the church itself.
One can begin to imagine the task of cutting this hard rock.
What with?
Presumably iron,
chiselling it away, cutting it away.
lt's a mental sort of work as well as the physical.
Having to conceive the thing and then of course
to set it out accurately as one cuts down.
lt's a - a great work of sculpture really.
Wow! Golly, this is wonderful.
There's Saint George,
after whom the church is named and this -
- gentleman's showing me
a rather strange contraption, an interesting machine. Oh.
Well what is this?
lt's a cask, it's like the um, Ark of the Covenant.
Not quite the right shape. The Ark of the Covenant?
- This is your Ark? Yes? - Yes.
What, what, what, what, what?
Does this open? Do you have the key?
No. Ah. So near so far as always.
Well, l think probably getting a bit carried away here
because of course l know Arks
are religiously guarded in these Ethiopian churches,
kept at the east end in the holy of holies.
That was an Ark though, l think,
but pensioned off.
Now it's probably just some - contains the church vestments and
odds and ends,
but l'm sure, from its proportion,
once upon a time,
that was one of the great copies of the Ark of the Covenant.
Gosh. The church is being locked and end of the day.
Thank you very much indeed.
Lalibela's eleven rock cut churches
are split into two separate complexes.
One representing the Earthly
and the other the celestial Jerusalem.
The churches are linked by a subterranean world,
a labyrinth of tunnels, caves and passageways.
Defence was clearly a factor in their design.
These rock cut passages around the churches
are not just utilitarian.
They - they unite the churches into a - a sacred world.
And as l walk through them,
l feel like l'm blood coursing through
this great holy body of Lalibela.
This tunnel seems to go on for ever.
lt twists and turns.
Ah, now l wouldn't say there's light at the end of the tunnel
but there is a hatch and steps.
Rock hewn steps.
This, l presume, takes me into Beta Emmanuel
which will emerge in a rather peculiar way,
through the floor of the church if it all goes according to plan.
Looks like the game's up.
lt's bolted or fixed down.
Have l missed my turning?
ls there actually another way into the church?
Well, okay, back the way l came.
Gosh, it's quite complicated this tunnel system.
Anyway, l'm out now.
At last Beta Emmanuel.
One of the churches that symbolises the celestial Jerusalem,
representing the seven heavens.
The facade, including windows shaped
like the sun rise symbol on Axum's stelae, is impressive.
But l don't linger
because l'm not told that another of the churches
has the most extraordinary interior.
Gosh. This is Beta Mariam.
That is the Church of the Virgin Mary.
lt's meant to represent her house in the Holy Land.
The church is said to date from the 12th century but -
- some people think it's earlier, maybe the 10th century.
What's clear though it's inspired by Roman classical architecture.
But it's the painting that makes this building absolutely - extraordinary.
Up here the Seal of Solomon,
the six pointed star -
- making a connection between here
and the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.
Up there's something extraordinary.
A sun, solar disc -
- making connections back with old religions of this land.
lt's heartening how early Christians in Ethiopia
seem to have embraced old beliefs and symbols
rather than eradicate them.
lt's the 26th of September.
The date of one of Lalibela's great annual festivals.
The Festival of the Cross.
l hope to find my next treasure in the middle of the celebrations.
ln fact pilgrims have travelled far and wide to see it.
To touch it.
lt's the symbol of the new Jerusalem.
Well, incredible.
This is the Lalibela Cross.
Seven, eight hundred years old, l'm told.
And the procession is now beginning.
The priests are allowing people to kiss this cross,
one of the most sacred objects in Ethiopia.
The procession's made its way down to this bonfire. Some sort of -
- faggots being gathered by the local people.
Bundles of twigs l think
constitute the offering,
a symbolic offering.
As they burn away their sins l guess.
The cross is reputedly made of solid gold
and it's an elaborate piece of work with layers of meaning.
The central crucifix
symbolises Christ of course.
And around the top edge are twelve cusps,
representing the Apostles.
And on either side the wings of an angel.
Can l have a - blessing from the cross?
l'm a Christian, yes. l'm born in England.
And that - and that's my blessing.
Thank you very much, thank you very much.
The Lalibela Cross is one of Ethiopia's national treasures,
so when it was stolen from a church here in 1997,
there was a huge outpouring of grief and anger.
lt was finally tracked down in Belgium
and returned.
- Do these goes through here? Another one? - Yes.
Technical problem here. lnserting my offering.
There it goes. lt's very hot. The -
- crowds move back very rapidly, so have l.
lncredible this fire. lt's a -
- sort of symbol of national pride really, national identity.
The whole idea of Christianity coming here to this land.
Ethiopia becoming the new Holy Land
and Lalibela the new Jerusalem.
That's what it's about.
After the festival the cross is returned
to its home in Lalibela's largest church.
Beta Medhana Alem.
The House of the Saviour of the World.
The faithful queue patiently to come into contact with the cross and its magical powers.
Ah! So here's the eastern end. The -
- holy of holies or the sanctuary.
Ah, here's the gentleman, the priest.
Ah, hello. Hello. Nice to see you again.
Thanks for god who led you to be here for this holy day.
Thank you very much indeed.
This cross is not human made, handmade cross.
lt's given from god, took angels to -
Like the Ark of the Covenant. l understand.
They call it Afwa agavam,
you know Mareg,
it means people never be afraid, ashamed.
Who take this one will get healing and er, blessing.
So the cross has miraculous powers
and they're the powers to heal
and to make you free from fear, fear from shame.
Fantastic. And l've - l've touched it.
From the Holy Land and Jerusalem -
- to the holy land of Lalibela,
here in Ethiopia created about 850 years ago.
lt's a curious thing the way human beings to pursue their spiritual life need to worship -
- physical relics, objects and places.
lt's a paradox. A paradox that can lead to conflict
when two faiths via to possess,
to control the same sacred sites.
l've seen that conflict, that sense of violence in Jerusalem,
but at least here in Lalibela,
this holy land possesses a sense of peace, a sense of bliss.