Abstracts - International Initiative for Georgian Cultural Studies

after a long time owing to N. and J.-M. Thierry,V. Djobadze, R. Edwards, and B. Baumgartner. From 1980s,
M. Kadiroğlu and other Turkish scholars are also actively engaged in the inventory and study of the monuments
of Tao-Klarjeti.
By the 1980s, the architecture of Tao-Klarjeti was already determined as a priority aspect of research by
Georgian scholars. However, political obstacles prevented them from exploring the antiquities of “Turkish
Georgia” in situ. As early as 1930s, G. Chubinashvili argued the exceptional role of Tao-Klarjeti in the
development of the Georgian architecture. Subsequently V. Beridze fully revealed this role in his general
work. Only after the collapse of the Soviet regime, Georgian scholars managed to arrange expeditions in
Turkey.
In the recent years, new perspectives emerge in the study of the architecture of Tao-Klarjeti. A joint
Turkish-Georgian team (O. Aytekin, I. Elizbarashvili) was formed for the inventory of Georgian monuments
in Turkey. Due to the efforts of M. Bogisch, there is a revival of the interest in Tao-Klarjeti in the
Western scholarship, which resulted in a special panel at the XXI International Congress of Byzantine
Studies in London 2006. Actually, it was the first gathering of scholars studying the subject from different
countries. Workshop in Istanbul 2007 was an important further step in this direction. It gave an incentive to
the creation of the international multidisciplinary team (F. Bayram, D. Khoshtaria, I. Giviashvili, A. Peacock),
which plans to start investigations in Tao in Summer 2008.
Dr. Bruno Baumgartner
University of Vienna. Austria
Unknown and Less Known Georgian Monuments in Northeast Turkey
The exploration of Tao-Klarjeti, or better of Zemo Kartli (Upper Kartli) how the Georgians have called
the provinces situated in the valley of the river Çhorkhi and in the upper reaches of the river Kura (Mtkvari)
was dominated by its difficult position in the region between Turkey and Russia.
My own researches in Tao-Klarjrti began with a touristical journey to Eastern Anatolia in 1982 when I
visited the first time some important monuments of Tao-Klarjeti as Oshki, Ishkhani, Xaxuli, Doliskana and
Yeni Rabat.
During the following years I undertook with a car of my own four journeys to Tao-Klarjeti In 1985,
1986, 1988 and 1990 I could travel to nearly all places cited by Zdanevich. Assisted by the aid of modern
street maps and the Map of the Turkish Army (Harta Genel Müdürlüğü) I was able not only to locate nearly
all Georgian monuments but also to measure and photograph most of them.
In 1989 at the International Symposium of Georgian Art History in Tbilisi I reported about my researches
in Klarjeti. During the following years I published some articles in Austria and France and in 1997 I finished
at the University of Vienna my dissertation Studies on the historical geography of Tao-Klarjeti, where you
can find new descriptions and photos of nearly all churches, monasteries and fortresses in Tao-Klarjeti.
First I want to describe some churches in the upper region of the Kura/Mtkvari valley, the former Georgian
provinces Kola, Artaani and Javaxeti. The greatest part of them was not visited by modern scholars
since the days of Takaishvili at the beginning of the 20th century:
Cicor, Dörtkilise, Alagöz, Eskibeyrehatun, Ölçek, Eruљeti, Börk, Sikirib and Gogubani.
Another interesting group of nearly unknown churches and monasteries is situated in the valley of the
Bardiz river, an important collateral valley of the Oltu-Penek river. Here we can find :
Leksori, Kalkus, Ortulis Vanki, Bardiz, Kop, Kotris and Bobisgeri.
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MEDIEVAL GEORGIA