Gergetier Trinity Church
Coordinates: 42 ° 39 ′ 45 ″ N , 44 ° 37 ′ 13 ″ E
The Gergetier Trinity Church , ( Georgian გერგეტის სამება ; Gergetis Sameba ) is a Georgian Orthodox church complex in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region , Qasbegi municipality .
Architecture and history
The complex consists of a domed church and bell tower from the 14th century and a council building ( Georgian საბჭეო ) that was added to the southern wall of the main church in the 15th century. The church has a rectangular plan. Its dome rests on the two free-standing columns to the west and the walls of the east apse . The church is built of well-hewn stone. Each stone has square faces. The facade and the dome of the church are decorated with Georgian ornaments . The ornaments are also on the walls of the bell tower. Gergetier Sameba Church was a major church in the historic Chewi Province . Just a little below the church is a fountain that is used by visitors.
The Georgian writer and scientist Teimuras Bagrationi (Batonishvili) writes in his work "Geschichte Iweriens" ( Iberia , Georgian ივერიის ისტორია ) that before the Sameba Church was built there was a cross on this mountain (Sameba Mountain). The construction of the church and its outbuildings cannot be reliably dated; there are no medieval sources giving a date, but scholars suggest that the architecture of the buildings dates back to the 14th and 15th centuries.
The name "Gergeti" ( Georgian გერგეტი ) comes from the missing Georgian village Gergeti on the right bank of the Tergi River opposite the center of the region, the city of Stepantsminda . The Sameba church was built in Gergeti and still bears the name of this former village today.
The residents of the village of Gergeti had the maintenance obligation for the church. They were called "Trinity serfs" ( Georgian სამების საყდრისშვილები ). For centuries, the treasure of the Georgian Orthodox Apostle Church , the grapevine cross of St. Nino , was kept in the Gergeti Trinity Church. The Georgian chronicle "Mosachsenebeli Sultai" ( Georgian მოსახსენებელი სულთაი ) was written in Gergeti and contains important information about the history of Georgia .
Younger story
Since the political change in the early 1990s, the Gergetier Trinity Church has been used again for religious ceremonies for the local population. It is also a destination for tourists. Mountain hikers can reach them after an ascent of one to two hours. There is a driving service with SUVs from Stepantsminda.
literature
- Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Tbilisi, 1978, p. 98.
- Roses, roger. Georgia: A Sovereign Country of the Caucasus . Odyssey Publications: Hong Kong, 1999. ISBN 962-217-748-4 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Tiflis, 1978, p. 98
- ^ Orthodoxy.ge, Gergetier Sameba
- ↑ Dzeglebi.Ge, information about the Gergetier Sameba Church
- ^ You can say yes even without rings in FAZ from March 21, 2013, Sete R4