Pavnisi church

The Pavnisi church of Saint George (Georgian: ფავნისის

წმინდა გიორგის ეკლესია, romanized: pavnisis ts'minda giorgis Pavnisi church of Saint
ek'lesia) is a Georgian Orthodox church in the Kaspi Municipality George
in Georgia's east-central region of Shida Kartli. It is a hall church ფავნისის წმინდა გიორგის ეკლესია
dated to the 9th–10th-century. The church is known for its frescoes
dated to the latter half of the 12th century. The church is inscribed
on the list of Georgia's Immovable Cultural Monuments of National
Significance.[1]

Layout
The Pavnisi church is located at an old cemetery south of the
Pavnisi church of Saint George.
modern village of Gariqula, in the territory that had historically been
known as Pavnisi. Built of sandstone and tuff and measuring 12.4 ×
10.8 m, it is a simple hall church with a semicircular apse on the
east. The church is covered by a semi-cylindrical vault which is
supported by arches on pilasters. The building can be accessed
through a doorway in the south wall. A low chapel, an eukterion—
now half-ruined—is annexed to the south façade of the church.[2]
The interior is frescoed. On the eastern façade, there are the sculpted
ornamental crosses on either side of the window and a depiction of Location in Georgia
a serpent swallowing the sun on a large sandstone slab placed above Coordinates 41.874282°N
the window.[2] 44.334672°E
Location Gariqula, Kaspi
Frescoes Municipality
Shida Kartli, Georgia
The plastered walls of the interior bear frescoes of high artistic Type Hall church
value, executed between around 1170 and 1180 and painted over an
earlier layer of the murals which can be traced on the northern and
southern walls.[2] The style of the paintings demonstrate that the painter was well-acquainted with Byzantine
models.[3] The frescoes—noted for the color harmony and the purity of line—have largely faded away or have
been peeled off, but are in a relatively better state of preservation in the apse.[2]

The conch of the sanctuary is adorned with the Deesis. In the middle register are bust figures of the twelve
Apostles and the lower register depicts ten Church Fathers and two deacons in two rows which converge on
the Holy Cross enclosed in a medallion and the image of the Mandylion just below it. The west wall is taken
up with a Christological cycle, containing the Transfiguration, and below, Pentecost and Entry into
Jerusalem.[2]

There is also an extensive cycle of the life and martyrdom of Saint George, consisting of five scenes, including
the one depicting George rescuing a youth from captivity, one of the oldest representations of the legend in
Christian art.[3][4] That the veneration of St. George was especially great in medieval Georgia is illustrated by
a donor portrait in the north wall, where two imposing figures of noble laymen and a child between them are
shown as praying, with George as the intercessory saint. Flanking the scene, the images of swords and shields
are displayed.[2] The donors are probably members of the Pavneli noble family, known from medieval
records.[5]
References
1. "List of Immovable Cultural Monuments" (https://www.heritagesites.ge/uploads/files/5cd556eed
8919.pdf) (PDF) (in Georgian). National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia.
Retrieved 25 July 2019.
2. Dolidze, V; Kintsurashvili, S; Sidamonidze, U; Tskitishvili, G, eds. (1990). საქართველოს
ისტორიისა და კულტურის ძეგლთა აღწერილობა, ტ. 5 [Historical and cultural monuments of
Georgia: Summa, vol. 5] (in Georgian). Tbilisi: Metsniereba. p. 146.
3. Mourelatos, Dionysis (2014). "The Formation and Evolution of Monumental Painting in Georgia
(6th-12th c.). The Role of Byzantine Art". In Panagiotidi-Kesisoglou, Maria; Kalopissi-Verti,
Sofia (eds.). Medieval Painting in Georgia. Local Stylistic Expression and Participation to
Byzantine Oecumenicity. Athens: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. p. 121.
ISBN 978-960-466-132-9.
4. Grotowski, Piotr (2003). "The Legend of St. George Saving a Youth from Captivity and its
Depiction in Art". In Deluga, Waldemar (ed.). Series Byzantina I (https://www.icon-art.info/book_
contents.php?lng=en&book_id=84). Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Neriton. pp. 27–77. ISBN 83-
88973-65-7. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
5. Privalova, Ekaterina (1977). Павниси [Pavnissi] (in Russian). Tbilisi: Metsniereba. pp. 56–59.

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