A religious and pilgrimage center of north-central Ethiopia, capital of the Zague dynasty for about 300 years. It was renamed for its emperor, Lalibela (reigned c 1185-1225), who according to tradition built the 11 monolithic churches for which the location is famous. The churches were hewn out of solid rock entirely below ground level in a variety of styles. They retain representations of many features known also from the architecture of Axum (Aksum) in earlier times. The expert craftsmanship of the Lalibela churches has been linked with the earlier church of Debre Damo near Aksum. Emperor Lalibela had most of the churches constructed in his capital in the hope of replacing ancient Axum as a city of Ethiopian preeminence. Recent restoration indicates that some of them may have been used originally as fortifications and royal residences.