ETH / Stone & substance
Ethiopia
Monolithic churches & excavated depth
Develop a system from this study
Image note
Three original interpretations of monolithic churches & excavated depth, informed by Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela. These images explore material and spatial ideas; they are not documentary views or measured reconstructions of the reference. The palette is drawn from the material portrait.
Publication credit: The Chromologium.
Image credits and reuseThe colour strip is the entry’s study palette. Artwork sources and image credits and reuse terms are recorded in the archive.
Artwork recordThree views of one material idea.
Lalibela’s rock-hewn churches are made by cutting into and around the rock. The ensemble remains a place of pilgrimage and worship, joining extraordinary construction with continuing religious life.
Read the material study01 / Reading the material
The volume left behind
At Lalibela, the relationship between removed rock and retained mass is central. A trench is not merely an empty margin around a building: it makes the method of excavation perceptible. The remaining structure and the surrounding cut belong to one continuous material reading.
02 / From surface to space
Read the whole.
Then the edge.
A view from above clarifies the boundary of the cut, while a view from within emphasizes enclosure and the height of the surrounding rock. Pair those scales to understand the spatial effect. The ensemble’s continuing religious life remains part of its meaning.
Compare the top edge of an excavated trench with the church mass left inside it. Draw the removed material as carefully as the structure that remains.
03 / Colour in context
A palette you can work with.
Five tones drawn from the material portrait. Select a colour, compare it on paper and ink, or copy its value into your own study.
Surface
#4f2c18
Colour values & paper / ink comparison
oklch(0.333 0.061 49.329) · primary
The colour stays fixed as its surroundings change.
Try the bench exercise
04 / At the bench
Make the observation tangible.
Cut a simple freestanding volume out of a larger block in an illustrative model. Preserve the surrounding void. Use abstract geometry rather than reproducing sacred forms, and keep the model distinct from a surveyed reconstruction.
Keep a view of the whole beside a close detail. Note the material, lighting and the one variable you changed.
Source & orientation
Keep the reference close.
UNESCO World Heritage Centre. (n.d.). Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela. Retrieved October 10, 2026.
The material readings and bench exercise are editorial studies of this particular reference. The artwork explores its material ideas; the linked source documents the place.
Artwork & cartographic records
Artwork record · Geographic plate record. Map geometry: Natural Earth, public domain. The archive follows its map’s place names, including territories and disputed areas.
A closer look
Questions about this study
What does this study of Ethiopia focus on?
Lalibela’s rock-hewn churches are made by cutting into and around the rock. The ensemble remains a place of pilgrimage and worship, joining extraordinary construction with continuing religious life.
Where can I find the original reference?
Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela, published by UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The artwork explores the reference’s material ideas; the linked source documents the place.
What could I try at the bench?
Cut a simple freestanding volume out of a larger block in an illustrative model. Preserve the surrounding void. Use abstract geometry rather than reproducing sacred forms, and keep the model distinct from a surveyed reconstruction.
Continue by material
