Gareja, Monastery of St. John the Baptist, Murals of Small Church
| Building: | Gareja, Monastery of St. John the Baptist, Small church |
| Layer of the Murals: | One Layer |
| Date/Period: | End of 10th century |
| Donor(s): | Father Superior Ioane |
| Painter(s): | Unknown |
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Inscription(s)
of the Donor(s)
A vast inscription of a historical person on the right section of the composition of the Presentation on the north wall was almost completely destroyed in the 1980s: […]˜Ⴐ|[…]Ⴕ ˜Ⴋ|[…]˜ႭႬ | ႫႤႭ[-] | ႤႵႫႤႬ | ჂႭႥႠ|ႬႤ Ⴋ[Ⴀ]ႫႠ|ႱႠႾႪႨ|ႱႱႠ ႣႶ[…] (Zaza Skhirtladze, “Ioane mamasakhlisis saktitoro moghvatseoba garejis mtavalmt’is nat’limstsemlis monastershi” [“The Donor Activity of Father Superior Ioane at Natlismtsemeli Monastery in the Gareja Desert”], in Zaza Shirtladze ed., Desert Monasticism. Gareja and the Christian East [Proceedings of the Gareja Studies Centre: II] (Tbilisi, 2001), 146-7). The text had been preserved almost intact in 1913 and 1921; it was fully read by Ek’vt’ime T’aq’aishvili and Sargis Kakabadze; according to the copies made by them the text can be restored in the following way: The Presentation of Jesus Christ. Simeon, the God-receiver, intercede for Ioane, the governor on the Judgment Day.
of the Painter(s)
Description
Trace of plastering has survived on different sections of the interior; fragments of the painting can be observed in the chancel and the north wall of the hall.
Chancel
Only the central niche was painted in the chancel; the extant fragments allow us to presume that an image of the cross was represented in the niche.
Aisle
In the hall the painting on the north wall has survived relatively better. A three-figure composition of the Presentation is depicted under the eastern half of the suspended arch. A multi-line donor inscription was laid out on the right part of the composition (see above).
Like the pictorial icon, the three-figure composition depicted below the foot of the hanging arch is contained in a square framing. Only small fragments have survived, but it is still possible to identify a rather large frontal image in the center of the composition, as well as single figures flanking it and facing the central figure. The iconographic scheme of the composition demonstrates that a scene of the Raising of St. Conon by St. Simeon the Stylite must be represented on the mural: St. Simeon the Stylite in the center, flanked by St. Martha, the saint’s mother, and St. Conon – the closest disciple of the saint. Explanatory inscriptions – vertically Ⴑ|Ⴇ|Ⴋ|[-]|Ⴋ|Ⴇ|[-]|[-], and horizontally ႫႨ are made in the upper left-hand corner of the composition.
The scene of the Raising of St. Conon by St. Simeon the Stylite was re-painted later, in the 12th -13th cc., and an inscription was added to the previous explanatory one. It reads ([…]|Ⴀ ႫႭႾႳႺႤ|ႡႳ|Ⴊ|[…] – […] elderly […]).
Bibliography
Zaza Skhirtladze, “Ioane mamasakhlisis saktitoro moghvatseoba garejis mtavalmt’is nat’limstsemlis monastershi” [“The Donor Activity of Father Superior Ioane at Natlismtsemeli Monastery in the Gareja Desert”], in Zaza Shirtladze ed., Desert Monasticism. Gareja and the Christian East [Proceedings of the Gareja Studies Centre: II] (Tbilisi, 2001), 256–9.