Dmanisi Sioni cathedral

Dmanisi Sioni
დმანისის სიონი
	Dmanisi Sioni cathedral.
	41°20′11″N 44°20′33″E / 41.336424°N 44.342581°E
Location	Dmanisi historic site; Dmanisi Municipality, Kvemo Kartli, Georgia
Type	Three-church basilica / hall church

The Dmanisi cathedral of the Theotokos (

Immovable Cultural Monument of National Significance.^[2]

History

Following a medieval Georgian tradition of naming churches after particular places in the

Orbeliani, from the 16th century into the 18th.^[1]

The church has been described, following the definition by Chubinashvili, as a "three-church" basilica, that is, a peculiar Georgian design in which the nave is completely separated from the aisles with solid walls, in order to create what are almost three independent churches.

mono-pitched roof.^[1]

The church, without later additions and narthex, measures 23 × 11.5 m. It is built of lines of small grayish stones, sometimes regularly hewn blocks, and is roofed with flat stone tiles. As the building has been reconstructed in the course of history, only the middle nave retains its original

Mandylion, saints and inscriptions survive in the altar apse; fragments of a royal portrait and two scenes of the Doomsday are visible in the northeastern and northwestern pilasters, respectively. A small flagstone in the south wall of the altar bears a carving in relief, depicting two laymen standing en face, with a pedestalled cross in between them. Two side annexes, on the south and north, respectively, are 9th–10th-century structures, containing a sacristy and prothesis, both with apses.^[1]

Sometime between 1213 and 1222, in the reign of George IV of Georgia, a narthex was added on the western end of the basilica. The narthex is richly adorned with ornamental stone-carvings in relief and covered with a vault, supported by four pillars and arches; its all three facades, columns, and arches are faced with light green smoothly hewn stone slabs. To the north of the church stands a rectangular bell-tower, remodeled several times.^[1] Farther, to the northeast, there is small single-nave church of Saint Marina, rebuilt in 1702 by Isakhar, a caregiver for Princess Mariam of Kartli.^[4]

The narthex bears three inscriptions in the medieval Georgian

asomtavruli script. One, on the western facade, makes mention of King George IV and Bishop Theodosius, a ktetor. Another, also on the western facade, mentions George IV's son David VII and relates that the bishop of Dmanisi abolished a local law that required a payment for the wedding rite. The third inscription, in the inner southeastern column, commemorates the certain Apridon, who had donated 30 drahms to the construction.^[1]

References

^
ISBN 978-5-89572-026-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
)

^ "List of Immovable Cultural Monuments" (PDF) (in Georgian). National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
^ Myers, Bernard Samuel, ed. (1987). "Georgia". Encyclopedia of World Art, Vol. 17: Supplement II, New discoveries and perspectives in the world of art. New York: McGraw-Hill.
^ "დმანისის ნაქალაქარი [Dmanisi site]". საქართველო: ენციკლოპედია: ტ.2 [Encyclopaedia Georgia, vol. 2] (in Georgian). Tbilisi. 2012. pp. 460–461.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[pravenc-1] 
ISBN 978-5-89572-026-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
)

[2] "List of Immovable Cultural Monuments" (PDF) (in Georgian). National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia. Retrieved 25 July 2019.

[3] Myers, Bernard Samuel, ed. (1987). "Georgia". Encyclopedia of World Art, Vol. 17: Supplement II, New discoveries and perspectives in the world of art. New York: McGraw-Hill.

[enc-4] "დმანისის ნაქალაქარი [Dmanisi site]". საქართველო: ენციკლოპედია: ტ.2 [Encyclopaedia Georgia, vol. 2] (in Georgian). Tbilisi. 2012. pp. 460–461.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[2]

[1]

[4]

History

Architecture

References