“You Won’t Believe They Exist”: 25 Amazing Religious Wonders

Climbing in a queue for 4 hours to spend a few minutes among a crowd of Instagrammers. It looks amazing and in theory I'd love to visit (despite my terror of heights), but in reality it looks like hell.

The rock churches at Lalibela are absolutely beautiful! Ethiopia has so much beauty, in nature and in its people. It's a wonderful country. I ♥ 🇪🇹!

Nah..stargates are round. That's an Iconian gateway

I looked it up. Yes, you have to climb. It involves narrow cliff-edge walkways (natural stone ledges, that is, not safe walkways with fences), sheer cliffs and natural stone bridges. The climb is an act of faith, so no ropes! Allegedly, no one has ever died during the ascent. It's not a tourist attraction (go figure!).

Always makes me think of Indiana Jones

It's beautiful!! My favourite so far 😍

The crazy thing is that there are several (14?) mountain monasteries named for St, Michael the Archangel... and they form a line pointing to Jerusalem... and the line looks curved on a flat map; you have to have a precise view of the 3-D world to realize the line is actually straight (well, curved but along the shortest route across a globe); and they were built at a time that idiot elementary teachers teach was when people thought the world was flat. (They knew it wasn't flat of course, but it;s still difficult to understand the accuracy needed to create these monasteries. Other monasteries include France's Mt St Michel and England's Mt St Michael.

Exquisite.

How do these giant structures get lost or forgotten?

Gorgeous

"Years ago, when I was backpacking through Western Europe..."

I've visited this temple - it's quite something.

Whoa, the view! That is beautiful

I’m always amazed by the design and construction of buildings like this. The size, complexity, arches, spires, round windows… Gothic and Neo-Gothic architecture is insane to me.

A great place to put it so it will be protected from the elements.

Elegant & majestic. 💗

Structures built onto the edge of a mountain always amazes me! Living inside one after being built is one thing but how does one go about constructing such a complex building without risking falling off by either slipping/faulty constraints or falling off due to part of the structure giving away during an early unstable phase of construction?!

... another of the 14 mountain monasteries named after St Michael the Archangel, which form a perfect arc on the sphere of the Earth.

I visited some of these as a kid. Absolutely amazing place. How they built some of them is beyond comprehension.

Outstanding

I want to boat there.

Sunday was not a day of rest for that congregation

Gorgeous

800 years ago they didn't need fencing - no safety rules back then, unlike now.