Armenian Chalcedonian church :: ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Armenian Chalcedonian church 13 — 14 cc․

Georgia / Javakhk / Akhalkalak / Saghamo

Location

The church stands at the southern edge of the village.

Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 444.

Historical Introduction
13 — 14 cc․

It traces back to the period between the 13th and 14th centuries.

Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 448.

Architectural Description

It is thoroughly built of finely-finished stone and mortar (exterior dimensions: 10.73 x 6.56 metres). The only entrance of this sanctuary opens from the south.

Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 448.

Repairs
1980 y․

In the early 1980s, it underwent restoration on the initiative, and with the means of, Georgia’s Chief Department for the Preservation of Monuments.

Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 448.

Description

I. Rostomashvili, who visited Saghamo in the last quarter of the 19th century, found two almost totally distorted inscriptions in the Georgian Mesropian script preserved on the walls of this church.

Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 448.

Inscription, Georgian Mesropian, Engraved, Commemoration

A single line:
ქ(რისტ)ე Transl.: Christ.

Ростомов И., Ахалкалакский уезд в археологическом отношении.– Сборник Материалов для Описания Местностей и Племен Кавказа, вып. XXV, 1898, стр. 96. Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 448. Note: The inscription is published in accordance with I. Rostomashvili’s decipherment. We do not have at our disposal any records as to the time the inscription dates from, but we are inclined to trace it back to the 13th to 14th centuries, indeed, with some reservation.

Type Copied Lapidary Inscription
View Exterior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Non-Specified

Inscription, Georgian Mesropian, Engraved, Commemoration

The other inscription reads:
ქ(რისტ)ე შ(ეი)წ(ყალ)ე მ(ო)ნა შ(ე)ნი გეორგაისძე ... დ(ა)ნი მ(ი)სნი. Transl.: Christ, may You have mercy upon Your servant Gevorga’s son (Gevorgayisdze)... [and] his sisters.

Ростомов И., Ахалкалакский уезд в археологическом отношении.– Сборник Материалов для Описания Местностей и Племен Кавказа, вып. XXV, 1898, стр. 96. “ჯავახეთი. ისტორიულ-ხუროთმოძღვრული გზამკვლევი”, էջ 24: Misreading: “ჯავახეთი. ისტორიულ-ხუროთმოძღვრული გზამკვლევი” offers გეორგაისძე, მშობელნი მისნი. Note: Having no records at our disposal to be able to establish the dating of the inscription, we can only make some conclusions regarding it. Thus, we think that it was carved during the construction of the church, and therefore, may be traced back to the 13th to 14th centuries. According to the editorial staff of "ჯავახეთი. ისტორიულ-ხუროთმოძღვრული გზამკვლევი", it was engraved in the second half of the 10th century.

Type Copied Lapidary Inscription
View Exterior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Non-Specified

Type Photo
View Exterior
Direction From the south-west
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Colour Negative
Date 1988 — 1989 yy․

Type Photo
View Exterior
Direction From the south-east
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Colour Negative
Date 1988 — 1989 yy․

Type Photo
View Detail
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Colour Negative
Date 1988 — 1989 yy․

The tympanum of its southern entrance

Type Measurement
View Exterior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Sketch