A woman prays inside Bet Medhane Alem church in Lalibela. Bet Medhane Alem or "house of ... Bet Medhane Alem or "House of the Redeemer of the World" is the highest and most extensive of all the churches of Lalibela. Fully carved into the rock, with its 34 meters long by 24 meters wide, is attributed on merit the honor of being the largest monolithic church in the world. Built like a Greek temple is completely surrounded by pillars of square columns. On the stone block is perfectly guess all elements of the temple: The porch, the ships, the vaults and windows and the lavish decoration with reliefs form a unique set. The church is completely surrounded by pillars (the canons of traditional Aksumite period), 18 inside and 18 outside, which for some specialists implies a clear relationship with Hebrew numerology in which 18 would correspond with the numerical value of the word "jai" ("life"). The church has no pictorial decoration interior decoration but based geometric reliefs of the lower windows, combined with alternating square windows and semicircular area is responsible for providing superior beauty inside the temple. In one corner, you can see three empty graves that according to tradition were excavated couple symbolically hold the bodies of the three biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To some historians, this temple would be a replica of the Cathedral of St. Mary of Zion, Aksum originally located and it was destroyed by the Muslims ...