Samshvilde Sioni church ( ka, სამშვილდის სიონი, tr) is a ruined medieval Christian cathedral and one of the main architectural features of the historic site of
Samshvilde
Samshvilde ( ka, სამშვილდე, ) is a ruined fortified city and archaeological site in Georgia, in the country's south, near the homonymous modern-day village in the Tetritsqaro Municipality, Kvemo Kartli region. The ruins of the c ...
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 southern region of
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 centralized domed building with
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 ...
d
sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...
and
pastophoria Pastophorion ( el, παστοφόριον, translit=pastophorium) is one of two chambers within an early Christian and Eastern Christian church building used as sacristies—the diakonikon and the prothesis.
Originally, in the Greek Old Testament ...
, the church was built between 759 and 777. It is now in ruins and only fragments of the eastern wall remain standing. The church is inscribed on the list of the
of Georgia.
History
The Sioni church is part of the Samshvilde historic site, which is centered in a naturally fortified location, a rocky terrain at the confluence of the
Khrami
, name_etymology =
, image = Khrami River Kirach Muganlo.jpg
, image_size =
, image_caption = The Khrami near Kirach Muganlo, Georgia
, map = KhramiRiver800px.svg
, map_size =
, map_ ...
and Chivchavi rivers, 4 km south of the town of
Tetritsqaro
Tetritskaro or Tetritsqaro ( ka, თეთრიწყარო, tr; , az, Ağbulaq) is a town in Kvemo Kartli in southern Georgia. It is the municipal center of Tetritsqaro Municipality. According to 2014 Georgian Census its population is 3,093. ...
. Following a medieval Georgian tradition of naming churches after particular places in the
Holy Land
The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...
, the cathedral bears the name of
Mount Zion
Mount Zion ( he, הַר צִיּוֹן, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; ar, جبل صهيون, ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew ...
at
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. The early medieval
Georgian Chronicles
''The Georgian Chronicles'' is a conventional English name for the principal compendium of medieval Georgian historical texts, natively known as ''Kartlis Tskhovreba'' ( ka, ქართლის ცხოვრება), literally "Life of Kar ...
credit the 5th-century Queen
Sagdukht Sagdukht ( ka, საგდუხტი) was a 5th-century queen consort of Iberia, natively known as Kartli in eastern Georgia, as wife of King Mirdat V. She was a daughter of Barzabod, a Mihranid ruler of Gardman.
Sagdukht is primarily known fr ...
of
Kartli
Kartli ( ka, ქართლი ) is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari (Kura), on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role ...
—the
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
of the Classical sources—with founding the church of Sioni at Samshvilde; archaeologists have not been able to locate the remains of this church.
The extant fragments of the Sioni church date to the period of 759–777 as suggested by a
foundational 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, from the better-preserved eastern façade, containing references to the contemporary Byzantine emperors
Constantine V
Constantine V ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντῖνος, Kōnstantīnos; la, Constantinus; July 718 – 14 September 775), was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775. His reign saw a consolidation of Byzantine security from external threats. As an able ...
and
Leo IV the Khazar
Leo IV the Khazar (Greek: Λέων ὁ Χάζαρος, ''Leōn IV ho Khazaros''; 25 January 750 – 8 September 780) was Byzantine emperor from 775 to 780 AD. He was born to Emperor Constantine V and Empress Tzitzak in 750. He was elevated to c ...
.
Layout
The Sioni church is built of neatly hewn yellow sandstone blocks and externally measures 24 × 24 metres. It is a three-nave building with a centrally located dome, with an oblong rectangular ground plan. The Samshvilde church bears marked similarities to the
church of Tsromi in
Shida Kartli
Shida Kartli ( ka, შიდა ქართლი, , ; "Inner Kartli") is a landlocked administrative region (''Mkhare'') in eastern Georgia. It comprises a central part of the historical-geographic province of Shida Kartli. With an area of , Sh ...
in its plan and conception, but here, unlike Tsromi, two long ambulatory galleries ran on the south and north, ending in separate chapels (''
eukterion
''Eukterion'' ( el, εὑκτήριον), or ''eukterios oikos'' (εὑκτήριος οἰ̑κος), literally meaning "a house of prayer", was a term used in the Byzantine and some other Eastern Orthodox societies such as Georgia to refer to priv ...
'') on the east.
The dome rested on the crossing of longitudinal and transverse axes and was supported by four free-standing pillars. The transition from the square
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
to the circle of the dome was effected through
squinch
In architecture, a squinch is a triangular corner that supports the base of a dome. Its visual purpose is to translate a rectangle into an octagon. See also: pendentive.
Construction
A squinch is typically formed by a masonry arch that spans ...
es. The side apses communicated openly with the sanctuary and the central bay rather than forming individual chambers. Apart from the 8th-century Georgian foundation inscription, there is another, heavily damaged, almost illegible Georgian inscription in the southern façade and, next to it, a fragment in Armenian identifying the Armenian catholicos Gevorg III Loretsi (r. 1069–1072).
References
{{reflist
Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance of Georgia
8th-century churches in Georgia (country)