Bichvinta mosaic

The Bichvinta mosaic (Georgian: ბიჭვინთის მოზაიკა) is a 5th or 6th-century floor mosaic from the ruined early Christian church at a cape in the coastal town of Bichvinta or Pitsunda, anciently known as Pityus, in Abkhazia/Georgia. It depicts symbolic animals, birds, and plants.

A floor mosaic at the Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia in Tbilisi.

History

The mosaic was discovered, in 1952, in a ruined 4th-century Byzantine three-nave basilica. Fragments of the mosaic pavements were preserved in the apse, the spacious narthex, and baptistery.[1] The surviving fragments were removed, restored, and laid on display at the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi.[2]

The Pityus mosaic seems to have been inspired by the earlier Roman prototypes[3] and reveals close stylistic affinities with Syro-Palestinian mosaics.[1] The closest regional counterpart is the near-contemporaneous mosaic of the Tsromi Church in eastern Georgia.[4][3]

Description

The mosaic is made of rectangular pieces of local colored stone, with cleanly trimmed brick lime solution. The background is orange. A stylized Greek inscription mentions the donor, Oreli. The central piece of the apse mosaic is a large Christogram, with Alpha and Omega, flanked and framed by interwoven Acanthus foliage. To the left of the monogram there is a depiction of a blossoming plant twig with plants and birds. The composition is embellished with various geometric ornamentation.[5] The narthex mosaic contains several small areas depicting fishes and birds. The entrance was embellished with the image of a fountain with birds on either side. Other fragments depict stags and deer.[5]

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References
  1. Djobadze, Wachtang. "Bitshvinta". In Strayer, Joseph Reese (ed.). Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Volume 2. Scribner. p. 253. ISBN 0684170221.
  2. Todua, TI (1975). "Removal and restoration of the Bichvinta mosaic". ICOM Committee for Conservation. 4th Triennial Meeting, Venice, 13-18 October 1975. Paris: ICOM.
  3. Talbot Rice, Tamara (1965). Ancient arts of Central Asia. Thames and Hudson. p. 248.
  4. Eastmond, Antony (1998). Royal Imagery in Medieval Georgia. Penn State Press. p. 61. ISBN 0-271-01628-0.
  5. Gelenava, Irakli, ed. (2015). Cultural Heritage in Abkhazia (PDF). Tbilisi: Meridiani. pp. 28–29.
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