Ninotsminda Cathedral ( ka, ნინოწმინდის მონასტერი) (c. 575) is located in the village of

Sagarejo Sagarejo ( ka, საგარეჯო) is a town in Kakheti, Georgia. It is situated east of Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, and has the population of 10,871 (2014 census). It serves as an administrative center of the Sagarejo district. The town i ...

, in the Kakheti region,

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 ...

. Ninotsminda Cathedral is highly significant to the development of Georgian architecture, as it predates

Jvari Monastery :''The name of this monastery translated as the "Monastery of the Cross". For the Georgian monastery in Jerusalem with the same name, see Monastery of the Cross.'' Jvari Monastery () is a sixth-century Georgian Orthodox monastery near Mtskheta, ...

in Mtskheta, and served as a model for the development of the later

tetraconch A tetraconch, from the Greek for "four shells", is a building, usually a church or other religious building, with four apses, one in each direction, usually of equal size. The basic ground plan of the building is therefore a Greek cross. They are m ...

(four-apse) form. The site is ruins today, with only the eastern

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''. ...

and a portion of the western wall remaining. The ruined apse is decorated with 16th century frescos of the

Hodegetria A Hodegetria , ; russian: Одиги́трия, Odigítria ; Romanian: Hodighitria, or Virgin Hodegetria, is an iconographic depiction of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) holding the Child Jesus at her side while pointing to him as the source of s ...

, severely vandalised with bullet holes from Dagestani bandits in the 18th and 19th centuries. Outlines of the foundations indicate that the church originally had an octagonal center, surrounded by corner niches. Historical records indicate that restoration work was undertaken in the 10th and 11th centuries, and also during 1671 and 1774. However, the cathedral collapsed during

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

s in 1824 and 1848 and was not reconstructed. The large brick

belltower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

within the same complex dates from the reign of King

Levan of Kakheti Levan ( ka, ლევანი), also known as Leon ( ka, ლეონი) (1503–1574), was a Georgian monarch of the Bagrationi dynasty, who reigned as king of Kakheti in eastern Georgia from 1518/1520 to 1574. He presided over the most prospero ...

(1520-1574). The lower three stories served as a residence, each floor with a fireplace. The staggered placement of bricks on the exterior façade to form geometric patterns indicates the cultural influence of Safavid

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, as does the pointed arch over the entrance. The Ninotsminda complex is surrounded by a fortification, with corner towers and a crenellated curtain wall, dating from the 16th-17th centuries. The fortified entrance gate has protruding towers with beehive machicolations. The complex is currently operated as a nunnery by the

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

, and reconstruction work is underway.

References

*Rosen, Roger. ''Georgia: A Sovereign Country of the Caucasus.'' Odyssey Publications: Hong Kong, 1999. {{Georgian Churches 6th-century churches Religious sites in Georgia (country)