Betania monastery

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The main church of the monastery

The Betania Monastery of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God ( Georgian ბეთანიის ყოვლადწმინდა ღვთისმშობლის შობის მონასტერი ), Betania for short ( ბეთანია ; bɛˈtʰanɪa ) is a medieval Georgian Orthodox monastery in Georgia . It is located near the village of Kwesseti, about 16 kilometers as the crow flies west of the center of the Georgian capital Tbilisi , today on the edge of the area under the city administration, formerly Niederkartlien . The monastery named after the biblical Bethanien was founded in the 12th century. Its buildings, erected between the 12th and 13th centuries, are examples of Georgian architecture from the so-called "golden age" of the Kingdom of Georgia . Betania is also known for its wall paintings depicting contemporary Georgian monarchs.

Betania is also one of the districts of the Georgian capital lying outside the actual urban area. It had 30 inhabitants at the 2014 census and is under the administration of the Stadtrajons Wake .

history

The name of the monastery is derived from the biblical village Bethanien , hometown of the siblings Maria , Martha and Lazarus mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible . The monastery consists of two churches. The small basilica of St. Giorgis was built in 1196. The large main church of the monastery was also built in the 12th – 13th centuries. Erected in the 18th century but the exact date is unknown.

The area of ​​the monastery was a family cemetery of the noble Orbeliani family . The Betania monastery soon became deserted and was neglected for centuries. It was only accidentally "found" by Grigol Orbeliani during the hunt in the 19th century and was later restored.

In the 20th century the famous Georgian monks Fater Giorgi (Mcheidze) and Fater Ioane (Maissuradze) worked in the monastery . They were canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Apostle Church .

architecture

Building plans

The surviving buildings are the main domed church of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God (built around the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries), the smaller basilica of St. Giorgis (1196), and the ruins of the bell tower.

The main church of the monastery has a rectangular plan. Its high dome, shifted slightly to the east, rests on the two free-standing columns to the west. The southern entrance portal is faced through the gate with a roofed, star-shaped vault. The facade is clad with well-hewn stone. The interior walls and the dome were later renovated. On the eastern facade there are two niches with traditional Georgian ornaments. Modern scholars suggest that the church is actually an expanded, domed, and decorated version of an earlier basilica, believed to be from the 10th century.

The structure has a length of 20.5 meters, a width of 14.5 meters and an interior height of 22.5 meters.

Wall painting

The interior of the main church is adorned with heavily damaged murals, which are one of the highlights of medieval Georgian frescoes. On the wall of the altar there is a scene of supplication, of which only the fragments of the figure of the Christian have survived. On the walls of the apse , behind the altar, are the representations of the prophets with the decorated scrolls in hand. The north wall is occupied by a cycle of the Passion of Christ , the south wall contains the scenes from the Old Testament and the west - the scenes of the Last Judgment .

The north transept of the monastery is decorated with depictions of Georgian monarchs. These representations date from the year 1207. These are the portraits of Giorgi III. (1156–1184), his daughter Queen Tamar (1184–1213) and their son Giorgi IV (1213–1223). Giorgi IV is shown as a beardless young man, but he wears a crown and a sword.

literature

  • Eka Privalova: Sur les peintures murales de Betania. In: M. Calo'Mariani (ed.): L'Arte Georgiana dal IX al XIV secolo. Bari 1981, pp. 153-160.
  • Sch. Amiranashvili: History of Georgian Art. Tbilisi 1971.
  • I. Tsizishvili: History of Georgian Architecture. Tbilisi 1955,
  • I Tsizishvili: Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia. Volume 2. Tiflis 1977, p. 268.
  • Алибегашвили Г. В .: Четыре портрета царицы Тамары, Тб., 1957.

Web links

Commons : Betania  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. National Statistics Office of Georgia: Population Census 2014: Number of population by administrative-territorial units and sex ( Memento of the original from September 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.geostat.ge archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
  2. Tamila Mgaloblishvili, Iulon Gagoshidze: The Jewish Diaspora and Early Christianity in Georgia . In: Tamila Mgaloblishvili (ed.): Ancient Christianity In The Caucasus . Iberica Caucasica Volume 1, Richmond 1998, p. 53. Routledge , ISBN 070070633X .
  3. ბეთანიის მონასტერი (Betania Monastery). Orthodoxy.ge . Accessed February 6, 2008.
  4. Bethania . In: Nodar Janberidze, Irakli Tsitsishwili: Architectural Monuments of Georgia . Strojizdat, Moscow 1996, pp. 258-263 ISBN 5-274-02223-5
  5. ^ Antony Eastmond: Royal Imagery in Medieval Georgia. Penn State Press, 1998, ISBN 0-27-101628-0 , pp. 154-169.

Coordinates: 41 ° 41 ′ 24 ″  N , 44 ° 36 ′ 39 ″  E