Armazi, Murals of the Church of St. George
| Building: | Armazi, Church of St. George |
| Layer of the Murals: | One Layer |
| Date/Period: | 864 |
| Donor(s): | Unknown |
| Painter(s): | Unknown |
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Inscriptions
of the Donor(s)
of the Painter(s)
Description
Certain sections of the interior were embellished with aniconic decoration, only minor fragments of which have survived.
Chancel
Painting of the chancel is utterly destroyed. Minor remnants of plaster have survived in the lower part of the northern slope of the conch, above the relief capital; it does not bear any trace of painting.
Chancel Screen
The five-span chancel screen of the church is painted too: bust portrayals of three beardless youths are represented on the architrave of the five-span chancel screen of the church. There are different opinions about identification of these depictions: it is presumed that these must be warrior saints, Holy Trinity, or a biblical composition – Three Youths in Fiery Furnace.
The relief arches of the chancel screen have wide red lines and rows of dots; crosses that are slightly elongated vertically, and equal-armed ones with flared ends set in a rectangular framing are depicted on the lower tiles. The facets of hexagonal pillars are covered in red and white paint alternately. The capitals are decorated with the same colors.
Aisle
Some of the sections of the aisle had been decorated with colors – south, north and west walls were ornamented with alteration of red and yellowish-white rectangular spots; facets of the sub–dome supports are painted alternately red and white, while red paint was poured in the grooves of pumpkin-shaped capitals and above them, in the notches of the sub-dome constructions.
Bibliography
Rene Shmerlingi, “Sakart’velos udzveles p’reskul mokhatulobat’a dat’arighebis sakit’khisat’vis”, [“Concerning the Dating of the Earliest Fresco Decorations in Georgia”], Kart’uli khelovnebis istoriis institutis VIII sametsniero sesia. mokhsenebat’a t’ezisebi [Abstracts of the Eighth Session of the Institute of Georgian Art History] (Tbilisi, 1954), 11.
René Shmerling, Malye formy v arkhitekture srednevekovoj Gruzii (Tbilisi, 1962), 244–6.
Tatjana Shevjakova, “K voprosu o vozniknovenii i kharaktere freskovjkh rospisej v Gruzii VIII–IX vv.” [“Concerning the Origins and Character of the Fresco Decorations in 8th-9th-Century Georgia”], sakart’velos metsnierebat’a akademiis sazogadoebriv metsnierebat’a ganq’op’ilebis matsne [Bulletin of the Section of the Social Sciences of the Georgian Academy of Sciences] 1 (1962): 257.
Rusudan Mepisashvili, Vakhtang Tcintcadze, Arkhitektura nagoronoj chasti istoricheskoj provintcii Gruzii – Shida Kartli [The Architecture of the Mountainous Part of the Historical Province of Georgia – Shida Kartli] (Tbilisi, 1975), 20–1.
Tat’jana Shevjakova, Monumental’naja zhivopis’ rannego srednevekov’ja Gruzii [The Monumental Painting of the Early Medieval Georgia] (Tbilisi, 1983), 7–8.
Zaza Skhirtladze, Adreuli shua saukuneebis kart’uli kedlis mkhatvroba. T’elovanis jvarpatiosani [Early Medieval Georgian Monumental Painting. Telovani Church of the Holy Cross] (Tbilisi, 2008), 102–3.