Sourb Varaga Khachi Georgian Orthodox Church :: ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Sourb Varaga Khachi Georgian Orthodox Church

Georgia / Javakhk / Akhalkalak / Murjakhet

Historical Introduction
1839 y․

The archive documents of 1839 and 1841 mention a church called Sourb Varaga Khachi (Gyut Khachi), viz. Church of the Holy Cross of Varag (Discovery of the Cross), but all the subsequent sources (such as the one dating from 1903) unanimously report that Murjakhet did not have a church. The contemporary press says the same: “In the middle of the village stands an old Georgian church. As for the Armenians, they have neither a church nor a priest...”

Հայաստանի ազգային դիվան (National Archives of Armenia), ֆ. 53, ց. 1, գ. 457, 3798։ «Արարատ», 1903, էջ 436: «Նոր-Դար», 1895, N 108, էջ 3։ Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 407.

Cross Relief

Type Photo
View Exterior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1988 — 1989 yy․

A finely-finished facing stone (9th to 10th centuries) decorated with an equal-winged cross (taken from the older sanctuary and now set in one of the walls of this church).

Type Photo
View Exterior
Direction From the north-west
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1988 — 1989 yy․

Type Photo
View Exterior
Direction From the south-west
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1988 — 1989 yy․

Type Photo
View Detail
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1988 — 1989 yy․

Pieces of a cornice of horseshoe-shaped denticles (9th-10th centuries)

Type Photo
View Exterior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1988 — 1989 yy․

Pieces of a cornice of horseshoe-shaped denticles (9th-10th centuries)

Name	Year/Century	Etymology
Gyut Khachi