St. Georges's Church, Lalibela, Ethiopia.

• Hewn out of solid rock, the extraordinary church of St. George (Bet Giorgis) represents one of the wonders of the medieval world. Dating from the late 12th or early 13th century AD, the construction of the church is ascribed to King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, one of the last kings of the Zagwe dynasty.

• The construction of the church involved excavating a free-standing block of stone in a 25m by 25m wide pit and then removing all the waste material from around it. The stone masons then carefully chiseled away the church outline, shaping both the exterior and interior of the building as they went.
• The cruciform structure is approximately 12 m high.