History and devotion

‘You start climbing at night, well before sunrise,’ says Natalia Mroz. It can take four hours to reach some of the churches she’s photographed in the mountains of Ethiopia for her Pilgrimage project. ‘Parts of the path are vertical and truly frightening, but as you climb higher, the sunrise illuminates the flat plain below and you can see for miles. Then suddenly the priest who has accompanied you puts a huge old key into what looks like a hole in the rock… and you have your “Indiana Jones” moment. Illuminated by candlelight, you see a whole basilica carved out inside, with columns and frescoes.’

Orthodox Christianity was introduced to Northern Ethiopia sometime in the 3rd century AD and its adherents soon began hand-carving places of worship into the stark, mountainous landscape. Over the centuries, hundreds of churches and cathedrals have been cut into the