The Abuna Yemata Guh church in northern Ethiopia is spectacular – and not just because of the ancient murals inside. Above all, the place of worship is known to have been carved directly into the rock 400 meters above the valley in a rock massif and is difficult to reach. Because it leads neither a way nor a staircase up. You have to climb the access, to climb partly vertical walls and balance over a bridge of two tree trunks, from which it goes left and right 200 meters down.

All this the faithful and the priest do without rope and security. The more spectacular is the fact that Ethiopian women climb the rocks with them 40 days after the birth of their children. The BBC accompanied a mother who brings her son Dowit to church to baptize him there. In the video, she says, “There is no other place where I would baptize my baby.” The newer churches in the lowlands are “less effective”.

Abuna Yemata Guh is said to have been hewn in the 6th century, according to legend. It is dedicated to one of the “Nine Saints” who missioned Ethiopia at the end of the 5th century, Abba Yem’ata. The well-preserved murals depicting figures from the Old and New Testaments are from the 14th century. In the Tigray region, 99 percent of the population belongs to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. (Hatch)