Ethiopia - Sacred Landscapes of Tigray

Tigray is home to 121 rock-hewn churches, believed to represent the single largest group of rock-hewn architecture in the world. Eighty of these churches, dating from the 5th to 14th centuries AD, as well as a small number of masonry-and-timber built churches, which include some of the oldest timber structures surviving worldwide (6th – 10th centuries AD), are located in the Sacred Landscapes of Tigray. The proposed serial nomination consists of three separate zones containing groups of rock-hewn churches in spectacular natural landscapes located in Mehakelegnaw and Misraqawi Zones inthe eastern half of Tigray Regional State, in the north of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The Sacred Landscape of Gheraltalies to the north west, consisting of a mountain massif to the west of Wukro, north of the regional capital of Mekele.The Sacred Landscape of Tembienis a mountain range lying to the south east of Gheralta and to the east of Mekele. The Sacred Landscape of Atsbi is an upland area to the east of Gheralta, on the eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands, with flat-topped mountainsor hills and deep-incised valleys.A significant number of churches have wall-paintings and many retain treasures in the form of manuscripts, portable paintings and liturgical objects, including examples which have survived from the Middle Ages, especially in churches which form the core of living monasteries.