Abstracts - International Initiative for Georgian Cultural Studies

Edith Neubauer
University of Leipzig. Germany
MEDIEVAL GEORGIA
Georgian Medieval Architecture and Sculpture and the Central European Romanesque Period
Georgia had adopted Christianity as a state religion as early as 337 AD. The pagan idols
disappeared and at the same places Christian churches for worship and baptism were often been erected,
a phenomenon known as “Continuity of the place of cult.” There were no examples of Christian churches
to follow. In the time between the fourth and the seventh centuries the inventive mind of Georgian architects
created numerous manifold forms of basilicas and domed cruciform churches.
The domed centralized church (Mtskheta, Jvari church 586/87 – 604/05) and the domed cruciform
church with four freestanding pillars (Tsromi, Redeemer church 626 -34) became new variations, unique
in the eastern Christian world. Georgia manifested its political and cultural independence of Byzantium
with these remarkable achievements. A distinguishing feature of early Christian architectures is the use
of relief sculpture which was already included in basilicas from the fourth century, but initially without a
fixed concept. In the Jvari church and the Redeemer church no part of the building was ever adorned by
pure chance, rather a fixed ideological programme existed. This promising development was interrupted
by a 200-year of Arabic rule. The beginning of the tenth century was the renaissance of Christian church
architecture and at the same time the renaissance of the monumental relief sculpture.
A second significant use of relief sculpture are the tympana which are linked with the portal of a
church. In the early Christian countries sculptured tympana in connection with church architecture can only
be found in Armenia and Georgia. The comparison of Georgian and Romanesque German jambs, frames
and pictorial programmes shows an astonishing similarity. Reception or parallel solution?
Up to date the development of the monumental style of relief sculpture linked with fades of churches
has not yet been given any regard. The first appearance about 600 AD (Jvari church, east façade) was
a pioneering event. The multitude of its roots - Antiquity, Urartu art, and oriental art – have not been
examined sufficiently. In Georgia and Armenia the mature style of monumental relief sculpture appeared
in the early tenth century in Achtamar and Oshki. The impetus reached Byzantium, Old Russia, Germany
and France.
Veronica Kalas
Wayne State University. USA
Yavuz Özkaya
Architectural Restoration PROMET. Turkey
The Georgian Aspects of Medieval Architecture at Ani in the Thirteenth Century:
The Church of Tigran Honents and the Mosque of Minuchir
The Church of Tigran Honents and the Mosque of Minuchir at Ani stand among the most important
buildings of the abandoned medieval Byzantine, Armenian, Georgian, and Seljuk city of Ani in northeastern
Turkey. In a campaign to salvage major monuments in eastern Turkey that have been neglected for decades
and to bring attention to underdeveloped regions of the country, Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism
offered a special commission for the preservation of these two structures. During the spring and summer
of 2006, Tigran Honents and the so-called mosque were the object of intensive survey by the architectural
firm PROMET based in Ankara. In this paper, we present some of the highlights from this study, including
the most important drawings and three-dimensional models produced from the survey. We also discuss
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