Arsenian I

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Nino Bagrationi
Giorgi Bagrationi
Giorgi Bagrationi
Gia Shervashidze

To the west of Otkhta Church, on a high hill on a firmly built sub-structure stands a hall-type church. According to the building inscription on the north wall, it was built by Arsen in 984.

The sub-structure is made of roughly cut square stone. It terminates in a cornice with a simple profile. The church masonry is faced with water tufa stone.

The east façade of the church has three windows and two large rectangular niches. There is an opening with architrave leading down to the crypt in the substructure under an apse window.

Due to the location of the church, the entrance is from the north. The door is located on the west wall. The hall of the church is divided into two parts by means of the projecting two-stepped pilasters. A gallery supported by a stone arcade used to be located in the west part.  The middle column of the arcade is now ruined. The hall terminates in a semi-circular sanctuary flanked by rectangular pastophoria above which niches for icons are located.

The church preserves fragments of plastering and mural paintings.

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