Lagurka

Lagurka
ლაგურკა
	Lagurka
	42°56′19″N 42°54′24″E / 42.938611°N 42.906667°E
Location	Khe, Mestia Municipality,; Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Georgia
Type	Hall church

The Kala church of Saints Cyricus and Julitta (

Upper Svaneti where Lagurka is regarded as the principal Christian shrine, its designation deriving from the name of Cyricus in the local Svan language. It is a hall church, adorned with frescoes painted by Tevdore in 1111/1112, one of the high points of medieval Georgian monumental art. The church is inscribed on the list of the Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance of Georgia.^[1]

History

Lagurka is nested on a high hill above the village of Khe in the Kala territorial unit, Mestia Municipality, on the left bank of the upper

Ekvtime Taqaishvili, for the Svans Lagurka is what Delphi was for the ancient Greeks—the symbol of their unity.^[4]

Layout

The exact date when Lagurka was constructed is not known. Judging by its style, the extant church is dated to sometime between the late 10th or early 12th centuries. Lagurka, measuring 5 x 2.70 m,

pilasters. The church is lit with two windows, cut one each in the apse and west wall; daylight through them is directly shed on the extensively frescoed west and east walls.^[2]

Frescoes

The church is completely frescoed, with numerous explanatory inscriptions in Georgian. Some of them have faded away. One partially damaged inscription, that on the west wall, dates the paintings to 1111 or 1112. It names the donors—the

Christina, George, and Theodore, and two scenes of the martyrdom of the church's titular saints—Cyricus and Julitta.^[2] The paintings are noted for their emotional expressiveness and carefully conceived positioning. The distribution of the frescoes follows the architectural sectioning of the interior and suggests a symbolic relationship between various scenes and images.^[2]

Lagurka contains a rich of collection of various church items from different periods of time. These include manuscripts, crosses, icons, and utensils, both locally produced and brought from elsewhere in Georgia or abroad. Highly venerated is the so-called Shaliani icon, a Byzantine repoussé icon of the Crucifixion.[4]

References

^ "List of Immovable Cultural Monuments" (PDF) (in Georgian). National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia. Retrieved 3 July 2019.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Kevkhishvili, Marie (2013). "Das ikonographische Program von Lagurka, Ueberlegungen der symbolischen Verbindung der dargestellten Szenen" [The Iconographic Program of Lagurka: Considerations on the Symbolic Relations between the Frescoes]. Arte Medievale (in German). 3 (4): 9–24.

JSTOR 23597593
.

^ ^a ^b Taqaishvili, Ekvtime (1937). არქეოლოგიური ექსპედიცია ლეჩხუმ-სვანეთში [Archaeological expedition to Lechkhumi and Svaneti] (PDF) (in Georgian). Paris. pp. 179–184.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

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[1] "List of Immovable Cultural Monuments" (PDF) (in Georgian). National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia. Retrieved 3 July 2019.

[MK-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Kevkhishvili, Marie (2013). "Das ikonographische Program von Lagurka, Ueberlegungen der symbolischen Verbindung der dargestellten Szenen" [The Iconographic Program of Lagurka: Considerations on the Symbolic Relations between the Frescoes]. Arte Medievale (in German). 3 (4): 9–24.

[3] JSTOR 23597593
.

[ET-4] Taqaishvili, Ekvtime (1937). არქეოლოგიური ექსპედიცია ლეჩხუმ-სვანეთში [Archaeological expedition to Lechkhumi and Svaneti] (PDF) (in Georgian). Paris. pp. 179–184.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

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