Gurjaani Kvelatsminda Church

The Gurjaani Kvelatsminda Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God (Georgian: გურჯაანის ყველაწმინდა, literally, "the holiest of Gurjaani") is a Georgian Orthodox church constructed in the 8th or 9th century, during the "transitional period" in the medieval Georgian architecture. It is located in the town of Gurjaani in Georgia's easternmost region of Kakheti.[1]

Gurjaani Kvelatsminda Church
Church seen in 2019
Religion
Affiliation	Georgian Orthodox Church
Location
Location	Gurjaani, Kakheti, Georgia
Shown within Georgia
Geographic coordinates	41.720489°N 45.787799°E / 41.720489; 45.787799
Architecture
Type	Church
Completed	8th/9th century
Dome(s)	2

The Gurjaani church is the only extant example of a two-dome church design in the territory of Georgia. It is mostly built of straight courses of cobblestone; corners and decorations are made of squares of pumice stone and arches, vaults, and pillars consist of brick. The church is a complex design, some portions of it organized as two-storey structures. Naves are separated by two pairs of pillars. A high, span-roofed middle nave ends in a horseshoe apse and is divided into three square portions. Each of the outermost squares are topped by low octahedral domes, crowned with vaults. In the 17th century, Persian invasions and Dagestani inroads into the area resulted in abandonment of church services which would not resume until 1822. In 1845, however, the clergy of Gurjaani moved to the Khirsa monastery and the Kvelatsminda Church was once again abandoned. In 1938, the Georgian authorities cleaned the area of the church and restored it as a historical monument. Further conservation works were conducted in 2010.[1]

References

1. "გურჯაანის ყველაწმინდა [Gurjaani Kvelatsminda]". ენციკლოპედია საქართველო, ტ. 3 [Encyclopaedia Georgia, Vol. III] (in Georgian). National Academy of Sciences of Georgia. 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-11-24. Retrieved 2020-01-05.