Mamatsminda

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Nino Bagrationi
Giorgi Bagrationi
Giorgi Bagrationi
Gia Shervashidze

This small domed church is located in Klarjeti. Typologically the church is cruciform domed, though it has no apse to accommodate a sanctuary. On the west it has a porch which accommodates the only door of the church. The dome is supported by projections attached to lateral walls. The transition to the drum of the dome is effected through pendentives. The circular drum is pierced by four windows. There is one window on each wall. The church walls are inclined, which is not visible on the plan drawn up by Pavlinov. It is built of roughly cut stone. The dome is constructed of brick. The façades were fully faced with even stone courses. The masonry has lost its facing.

The church is plastered and fully covered with paintings. The pendentantives have four evangelists; the drum of the dome depicts holy fathers while other walls display the Great Feasts and the west wall features the Hetoimasia. The east arch is distinguished by its special iconographic scene ‘the souls are truly in the hands of the Lord’. The faces of the saints as well as the scenes are accompanied with explanatory inscriptions in the Georgian and Greek languages. The south wall features inscriptions. The mural paintings adorning the church walls date from the late 15th century. The construction date only slightly preceded the painting period.

The building must also be assigned to no earlier than the 15th century.

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