Kazchi column

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Oblique aerial view of the Kazchi column and surrounding buildings from the southeast (2019)
Kazchi column from the southwest (2009), with a clearly recognizable overhang in the upper part of the west side. Behind it (particularly easy to see on the right in the picture) the steep slope of the eastern flank of the valley, from which the cliff was cut out by erosion and weathering and has been preserved to this day.
Iron ladder and elevator on the east side (2013)
The paw cross , engraved at the foot of the east side of the rock, reminiscent of a consecration cross, dates from the 5th or 6th century. It is interpreted as a link between Christian symbolism and the designation of the cliff as the “pillar of life” and testifies to the fact that the rock was a holy place as early as the early Middle Ages , around four centuries before the monastery was built.

The Kazchi column (alternative spelling: Katskhi column , [ kʼɑt͡sχi ]; Georgian კაცხის სვეტი kac'xis svet'i ; Russian Кацх (ий) ский Столп Kazch (ij) skij Stolp ) is a nearly 40 meter high, free-standing limestone - Cliff or - rock needle near the village Kazchi about 5 kilometers northwest of Chiatura in the region ( Mchare ) Imeretien in western Georgia .

Geography and geology

The rock tower of Kazchi rises orographically to the left (east) above the Kazchura River , an orographically right (northern) tributary of the Kwirila in the southern slope of the Ratscha Mountains . The height of the terrain at the foot is approximately 620 meters. The cliff is an erosion remnant of the limestone plateau into which the Kazchura has cut like a gorge. This plateau belongs to the part of the so-called Semo-Imereti Plateau located to the right (north) of the Kwirila, which, together with adjacent crustal areas , was lifted out of the Transcaucasian foreland basin from the Pliocene and is still in uplift today. The Kazchi column has an approximately rectangular cross-section, with the four sides pointing roughly in the four cardinal directions. This corresponds to the north-south and east-west strikes of the fissures in the rock. The north and south sides form the short sides of the rectangle. The cliff tapers slightly towards its base. The west side forms a clear overhang in the upper section. The relative age of the limestone of both the cliff and the steep slopes of the Kazchura Valley in the Kazchi area is Late Cretaceous - Early Paleocene .

monastery

A small Georgian Orthodox monastery is located on the cliff's summit plateau, measuring around 10 × 15 meters . It comprises a chapel in the southeast corner of the plateau, the area of ​​which is 4.5 × 3.5 meters and under which there is a crypt , and a residential building with a wine cellar in the northern half. This monastery was probably built in its original form in the 10th century. Contrary to a dating from the 1960s, the roots of the monastery on the plateau do not go back, only the history of the undeveloped cliff as a local Christian sanctuary as far back as the 5th or 6th century. Therefore, it is now considered unlikely that the cliff was inhabited by the pillar saint Simeon , with whom it was repeatedly associated. Instead, the remains of three hermit cells identified in the ruins suggest that mostly several monks lived there, similar to the monasteries on the cliffs of Meteora in Greece. The chapel on the plateau probably originally bore the name "Tree of Life", a metaphor for the cross of Jesus , although the origin of this name should also go back to at least the 6th century. The cliff is still called the “pillar of life” by the local population. entire paragraph after

The original monastery was probably abandoned during the Turkish conquest of Imereti (16th century). At the beginning of the Soviet era in Georgia, it had long since fallen into ruins. On July 29, 1944, the cliff was climbed by a team of mountaineers, architects, and writers. One consequence of this one-day expedition was the publication of the first scientific description of the ruins in 1946. From 1999 to 2005, detailed systematic archaeological investigations took place on the summit plateau. After its completion, the buildings were restored or rebuilt with government support in 2009 and the chapel was consecrated to Saint Maximus the Confessor . In the crypt under the chapel, the remains of a former resident rest, which were found during the excavation work in the ruins. Today the complex is a national monument .

An ascetic hermit monk, modeled on the medieval residents, has lived on the summit plateau since the 1990s . According to his own account, he initially spent the nights there in an old refrigerator. Twice a week he leaves his domicile via an iron ladder, which was attached to the east side of the cliff as part of archaeological research, in order to hold a service for his followers in the newly built chapel at the foot of the rock, which is dedicated to the pillar saint Simeon to hold. The hermit is supplied with water and food by his followers via a rope hoist. With the exception of other clergymen, he does not receive any visitors, women are generally prohibited from entering the summit plateau.

Web links

Commons : Kazchi Pillar  - Collection of Images

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b c d Giorgi Gagoschidze: კაცხის სვეტი [Kazchi column]. Academia. ISSN  1512-0899 Vol. 1, 2010, pp. 55-68 ( online complete volume, Georgian); a version of this work translated into English (without illustration) appeared in Collectanea Christiana Orientalia, Vol. 12, 2015, pp. 287–306 ( PDF 328 kB).
  2. ↑ a b Mönch has lived lonely on a pillar for 20 years Die Welt (welt.de), September 8, 2013, accessed on March 31, 2018
  3. ↑ Zaza Lezhava, Nana Bolashvili, Kukuri Tsikarishvili, Lasha Asanidze, Nino Chikhradze: Hydrological and Hydrogeological Characteristics of the Platform Karst (Zemo Imereti Plateau, Georgia). Pp. 93-100 in Daniel H. Doctor, Lewis Land, J. Brad Stephenson (Eds.): NCKRI Symposium 5 - Proceedings of the 14th Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst. National Cave and Karst Research Institute, Carlsbad (NM) 2015 ( PDF 14.7 MB)
  4. ↑ Lasha Asanidze, Nino Chikhradze, Zaza Lezhava, Kukuri Tsikarishvili, Jason Polk, Giorgi Chartolani: Sedimentological Study of Caves in the Zemo Imereti Plateau, Georgia, Caucasus Region. Open Journal of Geology. Vol. 7, 2017, pp. 465-477, doi: 10.4236 / ojg.2017.74032
  5. ^ A b c d Claudio Margottini, Luca Maria Puzzili, Alberico Sonnessa, Daniele Spizzichino: Instability Processes Affecting the Katskhi Pillar Monastery (Georgia). Pp. 349–355 in Kyoji Sassa, Paolo Canuti, Yueping Yin (Eds.): Landslide Science for a Safer Geoenvironment: Volume 3: Targeted Landslides. Springer, 2014, ISBN 978-3-319-04995-3
  6. ↑ VI Kurotschkin (Red.): Геологическая Карта СССР 1: 200,000, серии кавкаской, лист K-38-XIV [Geological map of the USSR 1: 200,000, Caucasus Geological Office, sheet K-38-XIV. 1956 ( geokniga Russian).
  7. ↑ a b Steve Nolan: Getting closer to God: Meet the monk who lives a life of virtual solitude on top of a 131ft pillar and has to have food winched up to him by his followers. Mail Online (dailymail.co.uk), September 6, 2013, accessed April 6, 2018
  8. ↑ a b Katskhi Rocks: A Landscape with Divine Views. GEO (geo.de), undated, accessed on March 31, 2018
  9. ↑ In this church one is very close to heaven. Travelbook, October 28, 2016, accessed March 31, 2018

Coordinates: 42 ° 17 ′ 16 ″  N , 43 ° 12 ′ 57 ″  E