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15 Beautiful Buildings Carved from ‘Living Rock’

By Steph in Art & Design, Geography & Travel, Nature & Ecosystems

Perhaps among some of the most astonishing buildings in the world are those cut from living rock. Known as rock-cut architecture, buildings like this can be found all over the world from Myanmar to Ethiopia and many contain priceless works of ancient art. Some of these incredible carved caves date back thousands of years while others are surprisingly a bit more modern than you’d think. These 15 buildings carved from colossal cliffs, monoliths and volcanic rock are breathtakingly beautiful and a fascinating look inside the traditions of cultures long gone.

Ancient Rock City of Matera, Italy

(images via: Flickr user vic15)

In the ancient rock city of Matera in southwestern Italy, people live in the same exact homes that their ancestors did 9,000 years ago. Matera was created from a rocky ravine and the many natural caves in the area – called the ‘Sassi di Matera’ – were the first houses of the Neolithic inhabitants of the region. The caves create a labyrinth of houses, and it’s practically impossible to distinguish the natural rock formations from the ancient architecture. The houses seem to sprout from the rock in an organic way, creating somewhat of a tourist attraction from what was in the mid 20th century a ghost town. Matera was notably the setting for Mel Gibson’s film ‘The Passion of the Christ’.

Po Win Daung Caves, Myanmar

(image via: Travel Blog)

Dozens of caves in the Po Win Daung hills contain a treasure trove of carved Buddhas dating from the 14th to the 18th centuries. The hills have been occupied since the dawn of human inhabitation of Myanmar – formerly Burma. Within the caves you can see 4,000 murals, and take a covered stairway up a hill to the main cave shrine. Intricately carved Buddhas act as pillars within the caves as well as sentinels outside the entrances.

Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia

(images via: Sacred Destinations)

Among the most amazing structures carved from living stone are thechurches of Lalibela, Ethiopia. 11 rock-hewn churches have each been carved from a single block of granite with its roof at ground level. 12th-century King Lalibela commissioned these churches with the goal of creating a New Jerusalem for those who couldn’t make the pilgrimage to the original city. Each church was created by carving a wide trench on all four sides of the rock and then painstakingly chiseling out the interior. The largest among them stands at 40 feet tall.

Ajanta Caves, India

(images via: Shunya.net)

The stunning rock-cut temples of Ajanta in Maharashtra, India, are among India’s most underrated treasures. Hollowed out of granite cliffs on the inner side of a ravine in the Wagurna River valley, the caves consist of two complexes: monasteries and sanctuaries.  They were excavated between the 1st century BCE and 7th century CE, and contain paintings and sculpture considered to be masterpieces of Buddhist religious art.

Abu Simbel Nubian Monuments, Egypt

(images via: National Geographic)

Four colossal statues of ancient Egyptian Pharoah Ramesses II guard the entrance of Abu Simbel, a temple cut out of the sandstone cliffs above the Nile River. Commissioned by Ramesses himself, the temple faces east so that twice a year, the sun’s rays reach into the innermost sanctuary, lighting up the statues of Ptah, Amun-Re, Ramesses II and Re-Horakhty. The complex was relocated entirely from its original setting in the 1960s to avoid being flooded when Lake Nasser was created.

Yungang Grottoes, China

(images via: Wikimedia Commons)

The Yungang Grottoes of Datong in the Shanxi province of China are comprised of 53 caves and 51,000 statues, and are one of China’s most beautiful examples of cave art. Giant Buddhas tower over visitors who wind through the caves viewing the many sculptures inside. Much of the artwork that was once inside the grottoes was stolen in the early 20th century and the wooden temple buildings that once protected the caves burned down. So, the site is now in urgent need of protection and has been named a UNESCO world heritage site.

Cappadocia Cave Houses, Turkey

(images via: First Class Wallpapers + Wikimedia Commons)

Cappadocia is one of the 73 current provinces of the Republic of Turkey, and has one of the most strange and fascinating landscapes of the world. The rocky, scrubby land features bizarre volcanic ‘tufa’ rock formations referred to as ‘Fairy Chimneys’ as well as complex underground cities and buildings cut from the soft ‘tufa’. Many of these are churches, with columns and arches decorating the stony face of an otherwise natural hunk of rock.

Golden Temple of Dambulla, Sri Lanka

(images via: My Sri Lankan Holidays)

Carved from a giant rock in Sri Lanka, the Golden Temple of Dambullawas once a set of caves inhabited during prehistoric times and then used for pre-Buddhist ceremonies. The temple was built and decorated in 89 BC by King Valagambahu. Inside, the cave ceilings and walls are painted with religious images that follow the contours of the rock. 150 statues of Buddhist order, figures from Sri Lankan history and a few statues of Hindu gods. A 14-meter-tall Buddha statue carved from the rock dominates the first cave as you enter.

Ellora Caves, India

(images via: Sacred Destinations)

Like the Ajanta Caves, the Ellora Caves are located in the Indian state of Maharashtra.  Carved from the Charanandri hills between the 5th and 6th centuries, the Ellora Caves were built just as Buddhism was declining in India and Hinduism was once again becoming more popular. As a result, there are both Buddhist and Hindu caves within the complex, with a rich variety of religious art including many elaborately carved shrines. The Ellora Caves are highly valued today as an example of the country’s tolerance of both religions.

Al-Hijr, Saudi Arabia

(images via: National Geographic + Zubeyr-Kureemun.com)

Among Saudi Arabia’s best-known architectural sites is Al Hijr, also known as Madain Saleh. The facades of the dwellings in Al Hijr were carved into the sandstone mountains sometime in the second millenium BC. Al Hijr – which literally means ‘rocky place’ – is believed to have been inhabited by the Nabataeans and the Thamud.  It features water wells, well-preserved monumental tombs, inscriptions and cave drawings.

Dazu Rock Carvings, Chongqing, China

(images via: Wikimedia Commons)

The Dazu rock carvings in Chongqing, China are hewn from the cliffside, featuring more than 5,000 statues and over 100,000 Chinese characters of inscriptions or epigraphs. Though Buddhist statues dominate, Taoist and Confucian figures can also be seen which is rather rare in Chinese grotto art. The carvings were made in 650 CE in the Tang Dynasty and continued in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1616-1911).

Petra, Jordan

(images via Atlas Tours + Wikimedia Commons)

The city of Petra in Jordan is known as a setting of the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It’s also one of the new 7 wonders of the world, and it’s easy to see why – its majestic rock-cut architecture is among the most sophisticated ever seen. Built into the slope of Mount Hor, Petra flourished during Roman times but was unknown to the western world until 1812 when discovered by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. Over 800 individual monuments can be seen in Petra, including tombs, baths, funerary halls and temples.

Goa Gajah, Elephant Cave Temple, Bali

(images via: My Budget Travel)

Goa Gojah, the Elephant Cave Temple, is one of Bali’s most historically significant sites. The cave was apparently partially destroyed by a natural disaster long ago, and was undetected for centuries until a team of Dutch archeologists stumbled upon it in 1923. Thought to have been built in the 11th century, Goa Gojah features statuary influenced by both Hinduism and Buddhism and contains secret meditation chambers for priests or hermits. Two traditional bathing pools outside the cave contain water said to have magical properties.

Churches of Ivanovo, Bulgaria

(images via: Wikimedia Commons)

In the Ruse area of Bulgaria, there are a set of monolithic churches, chapels and monasteries hewn from solid rock known as the Churches of Ivanovo. Though the presence of these churches in the cliffside is impressive in itself, the structures are best known for their beautiful and well-preserved medieval frescoes. Christian monks dug out the caves and made the churches in the 13th century and though it’s a bit easier to access now, centuries ago people had to climb the cliff with ropes to get inside.

Temples of Damanhur, Valchuisella, Italy

(images via: The Daily Mail)

Viewing photos of the Temples of Damanhur, carved into the rock under the village of Valchuisella, Italy, one might think they’re an ancient wonder. But what the Italian government has deemed “the 8th wonder of the world” is actually a modern product of one man’s very active imagination. A 57-year-old former insurance broker created the ornate temples, occupying almost 300,000 cubic feet, in secret over a period of 16 years. Oberto Airaudi selected the hillside for its sturdy rock, built an unassuming house and began excavating underneath it. The self-described ‘paranormal’ eccentric had volunteers work in 4-hour shifts to create the nine chambers full of astonishing murals, mosaics, statues, secret doors and stained glass windows. Airaudi’s entire story is a long and bizarre one, and though some may deem his creations a bit gaudy, the fact that he pulled all of this off certainly is amazing.

The Temple of Ramesses II In Abu Simbel

The Temple of Ramesses II In Abu Simbel

About Ramesses ІІ

Ramesses ІІ was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the 19^th dynasty and he was ruled Egypt for about of 66 years ( 1279 – 1212 BC ) in his 20s . He was able to the construction many great monuments in Karnak , Luxor , Thebes , Abydos , Memphis andNubia .

Ramesses was the son of the king Seti І and the queen Muttuya . The most important of his wives was his beloved Nefertari and he had also had several secondary wives , and the total of his sons and daughters were about 90 . He was appointed Prince Regent at the age of fourteen and a king at the age of twenty . Ramesses built many temples and foremost of which is : Abu Simbel Complex ( Two large temples carved in the rock ) and The Ramesseum Temple ( The Mortuary Temple ) .

The Great Temple

The rock-cut temple of Ramesses ІІ on the west bank of the Nile about 290 km southwest of Aswan at Abu Simbel is the greatest of the seven rock-cut temples which the king constructed in Nubia in 1250 BC and the most impressive of all the Egyptian monuments in the area .

The temple was not seen by Europeans until the 19^th century, when it was discovered by the Swiss orientalist J. L. Burckhardt in 1813 and penetrated by the Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni in 1817 .

Today, as a result of the international effort which moved the huge cliff-cut temple and the Small Temple to higher ground during the construction of the Aswan High Dam in 1960, the monument is one of the most famous in Egypt .

The temple was evidently begun fairly early in Ramesses' long reign – it was commissioned sometime after the king's fifth regal year but was not completed until his 35^th year . During this time the conception of the monument's purpose may have changed to some degree, and the cult images in the temple's innermost shrine were re carved to include a representation of Ramesses ІІ himself, along with the three great state gods of late New Kingdom Egypt, Re-Horakhty of Heliopolis, Ptah of Memphis, and Amun-Re of Thebes . At its completion, the temple was called simply Hut Ramesses Mery-amun, " The temple ofRamesses, Beloved of Amun " .

The forecourt which fronted the temple contained two tanks for the ablutions of the priests, which flanked the stairs leading up to the entrance terrace . On the northern side of this terrace stood a small sun-chapel and on the south a chapel of Thout . The massive façade of the main temple ( 38 m width and 33 m high ) is dominated, of course, by the four seated colossi of Ramesses ІІ were carved wearing the double crown of Lower and Upper Egypt which at some 21 meter ( 69 ft ), are among the tallest made in Egypt but the statue to the left of the entrance was damaged in an earthquake, leaving only the lower part of the statue still intact.

The head and torso can still be seen at the statue's feet . Beneath these giant sculptures are the carved figures of bound Negro ( on the south ) and Asiatic ( on the north ) captives – symbolic of Egypt's borderland enemies .

Next to the giant figures of the king, members of Ramesses' family – including images of his great royal wife Nefertari and mother Muttuya, as well as several children – stand at his feet .

The figure of Re-Horakhty ( worshiped by flanking images of Ramesses ) above the entrance not only spells out the king's throne name in rebus form User-Maat-Re, but also stresses the solar nature of outer temple .

A stela at the southern end of the external terrace records one of Ramesses's diplomatic triumphs, his marriage to a daughter of the Hittite king Hattusilis ІІІ .

Within the temple a series of chambers becomes increasingly smaller as the floors of the rooms rise noticeably – following the basic convention of temple design in a somewhat foreshortened manner . The First hall ( 59 ft breadth – 65 ft depth ) is nevertheless cut on an imposing scale and contains eight large statues of the king as Osiris ( 30 ft high ) engaged to the pillars which support  its roof . The walls are decorated in relief with scenes showing the king in battle ( including the great Battle of Kadesh on the north wall, and Syrian, Libyan and Nubian wars on the south wall ), and presenting prisoners to the gods . The wall carvings retain some of their original colour .

 

A series of magazines radiates off from this first hall; behind it the smaller second pillared hall with ritual offering scenes stands before a transverse vestibule and the sanctuary which is flanked by special storerooms for cultic objects .

 

The sanctuary contains a small altar and in its rear niche ( left to right ) are the four statues of Ptah, Amun-Re, the deified Ramesses and Re-Horakhty . While the horizontal rays of the rising sun did illuminate these statues twice each year ( and still do through the careful orientation of the relocated temple ), the specific dates of these occurrences are not as important as it often thought, as the phenomenon would occur with any south-facing structure of this type at some point or points of the year . Nevertheless, the occurrence itself was important as it achieved the symbolic fusion of solar and chthonic forces celebrated in this great temple .

 

Abu Simbel's Great Temple : The Fusion of Light and Darkness

In many ways a fusion of " divine " and mortuary temples, the Great Temple of Abu Simbel was constructed to face eastwards so that the sun's rays illuminated the structure's façade each sunrise . First; the sunlight lit the row of 22 baboons ( symbolic greeters of the sun god ) carved along the top of the cliff-face façade, then as the sun rose its rays illuminated the four colossal faces of the king and the central niche statue of Re which formed a rebus of Ramesses's throne name . Finally, the solar rays entered the temple itself . The temple's axis was aligned in such a way that twice each year, in the 21^st of February ( The King's Birthday ) and the 21^st of October ( The King's Coronation Day ), the sun's rays penetrated some 60 m ( 200 ft ) through its inner halls to the very depths of the rock-cut monument where they illuminated the statues of the deified Ramesses and his companion gods ( Amun-Re, Ramesses ІІ and Re-Horakhty ), though the statue of the chthonic deity Ptah remains in partial shadow .

The Small Temple

To the north – about 150 m - of the main temple a smaller yet still impressive, temple was built in honour of Ramesses's great wife " Nefertari ", and the goddess Hathor, the deity most closely associated with queenship in Ancient Egypt ( the façade is 30 m breadth and 13 m height ) . As with Ramesses own temple, the cliff face was cut back to resemble the sloping walls of a pylon and colossal standing figures ( about 10 m or 33 ft high ) of Ramesses and Nefertari – four of the king and two of the queen – were cut, along with diminutive figures of the royal family . Inside, Nefertari's temple is both smaller and simpler in plan, with a single pillared hall – here with carved Hathor images on the sides facing the centre of the hypostyle; a vestibule with ancillary rooms at either end; and the sanctuary . Although the sanctuary itself was completed, two spaces were left on its side walls for doors to rooms which were never cut . The inner chamber contains a number of images interrelating the royal couple and the gods . On the rear wall, in high relief, Hathor is depicted as a cow emerging from the " Western Mountain" with the king standing beneath her chin . On the left wall Nefertari is seen worshipping before Mut and Hathor, and on the right Ramesses worships before images of his deified self and his wife . The importance granted to Nefertari here and throughout the temple is immense, and the queen is repeatedly shown as participating in the divine rituals on an equal footing with the king .

Plan of The Rock-cut The Complex of Abu Simbel

  

Temple of Ramesses II ( The Great Temple ) :

1. court for sun worship
2. seated colossi of Ramesses II
3. large pillared hall
4. side chambers
5. small pillared hall
6. sanctuary
7. Hittite marriage stele
8. south rock-cut chapel
9. north rock-cut chapel
10. extent of modern concrete dome

Temple of Hathor and Nefertari ( The Small Temple ) :

11. standing colossi
12. pillared hall
13. vestibule
14. sanctuary
15. extent of modern concrete dome

Ramesses's Death

By the time of his death, aged about 90 years, Ramesses was suffering from severe dental problems and was plagued by arthritis and hardening of the arteries . He had outlived many of his wives and children and left great memorials all overEgypt, especially to his beloved first queen Nefertari . Nine more pharaohs would take the name Ramesses in his honour, but few ever equaled his greatness . Nearly all of his subjects had been born during his reign and thought the world would end without him . Ramesses II did become the legendary figure he so desperately wanted to be, but this was not enough to protectEgypt . New enemies were attacking the empire which also suffered internal problems and it could not last . Less than 150 years after Ramesses died the Egyptian empire fell and the New Kingdom came to an end .

Relocation

Historical overview about the process of relocation

• After the construction of Aswan reservoir ( The Old Aswan Dam ) in 1902 , the Nubian monuments was flooded 3 times . The first; in 1902 which was followed by rising waters , The second in 1912 and the third in 1934 .
• In 1954 ; the Egyptian Government began to study a project for building a High Dam to the south of the city of Aswan and has been already constructed in the period from 1960 to 1964 in order to develop and modernize the country's economy , it became apparent that Egypt and Sudan had a major cultural heritage problem : dozens of temples and archaeological sites and areas in Nubia were in danger of being submerged by the waters of the vast artificial lake ( Lake Nasser ) that would be formed behind the High Dam , which its length about 500 km . The lake would extend over 300 kilometers up the Nile Valley in Egyptian Nubia ( Lake Nasser) and some 200 kilometers into Sudanese Nubia (Lake Nubia ) .
• The ground of the great temple stood 124 meters and the smaller temple 122 meters above sea level , but as the water level of the reservoir created by the old dam never exceeded 121 meters , however; the water level in Lake Nasser would rise to 182 meters, exceeding the highest level reached by the waters of the old Aswan Dam by 61 meters which means submerging the two temples completely and all of Nubian monuments in the area .
• In 1959, this cultural heritage was threatened and The Governments of Egypt and Sudan turned therefore to The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization " UNESCO " and Its Member States ( about 50 countries ) for cooperation , so an international campaign to save the monuments ofNubia launched by UNESCO had began . The cost of the project was about 42 million dollars, approximately half of which was provided by international assistance and Egypt's contributions amounting to 12 million dollars .
• The salvage of the Abu Simbel temples began in November 1963 and ended in September 1968 by cutting the two temples method , before the deadline by about 20 months and without losing no stone in what many consider one of the greatest feats of archaeological engineering .

Steps of relocation the complex

1. Establishment a temporary dam in front of the two temples to protect them from the stored water growing day after day - the total length of 730 m , and a height of 37 m - and the dam has included 380 thousand cubic meters of sandstone after covering the façade of the great temple by sand to protect the colossal statues from pressures when begin cutting walls behind them , and create a scaffolding inside the temple to protect the roof and the pillars .
2. Removed above the two temples of the rocks and hills which a size of 150 thousand cubic meters .
3. The entire site was cut into large blocks ( about 3000 blocks ) weighing between 10 and 40 tons , without using explosives .
4. Each piece was carefully lifted by crane and put on trucks to be transported up to the new location on a plateau after its preparation located about 65 meters higher and 200 meters back from the river .
5. Reassembled and reconstruction the two temples in the new location with the same previous directions .
6. Construct an artificial dome of concrete to contain the two temples who reconstructed to carry the blocks which was covered , which a diameter of about 60 meters , so it was considered one of the world’s largest artificial domes out of reinforced concrete .
7. Figuration artificial hills above the two temples which a size of 330 thousand cubic meters of sandstone to keep the original appearance of being carved into the cliffs .

The Results Of Relocation

The relocation of the complex led to difference the angle of the temple's direction a little , where the sun's rays penetrate the temple through the large pillared hall and the small pillared hall until reaching the sanctuary to illuminate the statues of Ptah, Amun-Re, Ramesses ІІ and Re-Horakhty in the 21^st of February and the 21^st of October . But after relocation has become a Illuminate in the 22^nd of February and the 22^nd of
October .

Abu Simbel Nubian Monuments, Egypt

(images via: National Geographic)

Four colossal statues of ancient Egyptian Pharoah Ramesses II guard the entrance of Abu Simbel, a temple cut out of the sandstone cliffs above the Nile River. Commissioned by Ramesses himself, the temple faces east so that twice a year, the sun’s rays reach into the innermost sanctuary, lighting up the statues of Ptah, Amun-Re, Ramesses II and Re-Horakhty. The complex was relocated entirely from its original setting in the 1960s to avoid being flooded when Lake Nasser was created.