Skhalta Cathedral
| Skhalta Cathedral სხალთა | |
|---|---|
 Skhalta Cathedral | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Georgian Orthodox Church |
| District | Khulo District |
| Region | Caucasus |
| Status | Active since 1990 |
| Location | |
| Location | Q'inchauri,Khulo District, Georgia( Adjara) |
  Shown within Adjara  Skhalta Cathedral (Georgia) | |
| Geographic coordinates | 41°35′06″N42°19′47″E/ 41.584967°N 42.329708°E |
| Architecture | |
| Type | Largehallbasilicaplan;Monastery |
| Style | Georgian |
| Funded by | Possibly Queen Tamar of Georgia |
| Completed | Mid-13th century |
TheSkhalta Cathedral(Georgian:სხალთა,sχɑltʰɑ) is aGeorgian Orthodoxmonastery andcathedralchurch inAdjara,Georgia,dating from the mid-13th century. It is a largehall churchdesign, with fragments of the 14th or 15th centuryPaleologian-style wall painting.[1]
Skhalta is the only medieval church in Adjara that survived both theOttomanandSovietperiods[2]to become functional again in 1990. It currently serves as a seat of the Georgian Orthodox bishop of Skhalta.[3]
History
[edit]The Skhalta monastery is located on a hill in the eponymous river valley, at the village ofQ'inchauri,Khulo municipality,along a road, which, in the Middle Ages, strategically linked Adjara with Artani (modernArdahan,Turkey). The written sources on Skhalta are scarce. A legend attributes the construction of the church toQueen Tamar(r.1184–1213), who presided over theGolden Age of medieval Georgia.Modern studies date the church to the middle of the 13th century. At that time, the Skhalta valley was in possession of the noble family ofAbuserisdze.[3]
After the Ottoman conquest of the region in the 16th century, the church was abandoned. The monastery was rediscovered and sketched byGiorgi Kazbegi,the Georgian officer in the Russian service, who was in Ottoman Georgia on a reconnaissance mission in 1874. After Adjara passed in the Russian hands in 1878, Skhalta—then lying in the estate of theMuslim GeorgianchiefSherif-Bey—was visited and described by the students ofCaucasianantiquities such asDimitri Bakradzeand CountessPraskovya Uvarova.Bakradze cites a document from the period of KingAlexander I of Georgia(r. 1412–1442), according to which Skhalta belonged to the patriarchal see ofMtskheta.[4]
The revival of religious activity and rising influence of the Georgian Orthodox Church in the closing years of the Soviet Union led to the restoration of the Skhalta church to Christian use. In June 1989,Catholicos-PatriarchIlia II of Georgiapaid a visit to Skhalta and held a requiem for those who had died in landslides and floods earlier that year.[2]In 1990, Skhalta was consecrated as a male monastery of theNativity of Mary.[3]
Architecture
[edit]
The Skhalta monastery is a large hall church, with a protruding, seven-facetedapse,two principal portals on the south and on the west and an additional door on the north. It is built of gray-white stone. A spacious interior hall is crowned with arches and a cylindrical vault, resting on prominent pilasters. The side walls of the hall are decorated with arches. Theconchof the apse and the vault are separated from the lower vertical walls with simple cornices.[1]
The interior walls are faced with hewn blocks of white stone, which had formerly been extensively frescoed. Small fragments of the original paintings of theNew Testamentscenes—examplifying the Paleologian art of the 14th or 15th century—were uncovered by the Georgian expedition in 1997. The façades are also covered with hewn blocks and the windows are ornated. Some of the ruined structures to the west and south are later additions.[1]
References
[edit]- ^abc(in Georgian)Abramishvili, G., Zakaraia, P., & Tsitsishvili, I (2000), ქართული ხუროთმოძღვრების ისტორია (History of Georgian Architecture), pp. 170-171.Tbilisi State UniversityPress,ISBN99928-56-52-1.
- ^abPelkmans, Mathijs (2006),Defending the Border: Identity, Religion and Modernity in the Republic of Georgia,p. 142. New York:Cornell University Press,ISBN0-8014-4440-3.
- ^abc(in Georgian)სხალთა ( "Skhalta" ).dzeglebi.ge. Accessed February 19, 2012.
- ^(in Russian)Uvarova, Praskovya (1891). Кавказъ. Абхазія, Аджарія, Шавшетія, Посховскій участок. Путевыя замѣтки графини Уваровой, ч. II (Caucasus: Abkhazia, Adjara, Shavsheti, Potskhovi circuit.Itineraries of Countess Uvarova, part II). Moscow, pp. 231-234, 243-244.
