The Abelia church of the Trinity ( ka, აბელიის სამების ეკლესია, tr) is a 13th-century

Georgian Orthodox The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...

church, located in the Tetri Tsqaro Municipality in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

's south-central

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

Kvemo Kartli Kvemo Kartli ( ka, ქვემო ქართლი, az, Aşağı Kartli) or "Lower Kartli", is a historic province and current administrative region (mkhare) in southeastern Georgia. The city of Rustavi is the regional capital. Location Kvem ...

. A simple single-nave design, it is situated at the outskirts of the modern-day village of Abeliani, formerly known as Abelia. A reference to the diarchy in Georgia under the Mongol rule in an inscription on the church's southern wall makes it possible to date the construction to the period of 1250–1259. The church is inscribed on the list of the

Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance The Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance ( ka, ეროვნული მნიშვნელობის კატეგორიის კულტურის უძრავი ძეგლები) are buildings, structures ...

of Georgia.

Location

The Abelia church is located at the foothills of Mount Sameba in the Kvemo Kartli region. This locale, first mentioned as Abelia in a document dated to 1580, was populated already in the

Early Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

as evidenced by the archaeological digs in the 1950s. The site has also yielded a 5th–3rd century BC necropolis with bronze, iron, and glassware artifacts, including seals with hunting scenes. The area, completely deserted in the 18th century and subsequently largely reclaimed by nature, was visited and its antiquities, including the Abelia church, were first described by the Georgian scholar Ekvtime Taqaishvili in the early 1900s.

Architecture

Abelia is a small single-nave church which has largely preserved its original architectural form. It is built of large regular grey porous

dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grained ...

blocks and faced with hewn stone, with the exception of the

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

which is made of rubble. An elongated hall is divided into two chambers by a middle supporting arch and terminates in a semi-circular

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

on the east. The apse characteristically narrows in towards the

conch Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends). In North Am ...

. The sole entrance is on the south and each wall, with the exception of the northern one, is pierced with a single window. The interior had once been frescoed; with time, they have mostly faded away. Outer walls are extremely poor in decoration. On either side of the

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

stone there are two prominent

brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

which had once probably supported arches of the now-lost annex. The church was renovated through a government-funded program in 2006.

Inscription

The southern facade is adorned with a lengthy inscription in the medieval Georgian ''

asomtavruli The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: #Asomtavruli, Asomtavruli, #Nuskhuri, Nuskhuri and #Mkhedruli, Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their Letter (alphabet), letters share t ...

'' script, arranged in 23 horizontal lines. The inscription is made in the name of Arsen Mshuidaisdze, archbishop of

Manglisi Manglisi ( ka, მანგლისი, ) is a '' daba'' (townlet) in the Tetritsqaro Municipality, Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia. As of the 2014 census, it had the population of 1,441. With a recorded history going back to the 4th century, Mangl ...

, and mentions the coregnant kings of Georgia,

David Ulu David VII, also known as David Ulu ( ka, დავით VII ულუ) (1215–1270), from the Bagrationi dynasty, was king of Georgia from 1247 to 1270, jointly with his namesake cousin, David VI, from 1247 to 1259, when David VI, revolting f ...

and David Narin, the former's wife Queen Tamar-Khatun and their son Giorgi. Tamar was a Christian, and royal name, of

Jigda-Khatun Jigda-Khatun ( ka, ჯიგდა-ხათუნი) (died 1252) was a queen consort of Georgia as the first wife of King David VII Ulu. She served as regent during the absence of her spouse. Origin and marriage The medieval Georgian chronicles ...

, a Seljuq or Mongol princess by origin. The text then goes on lamenting hardships the church-builders had to endure at the time when "the Tatars had conquered this kingdom and the whole of the country", a reference to the Mongol domination of Georgia.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Kvemo Kartli Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance of Georgia Georgian Orthodox churches in Georgia (country) 13th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings