Dikhazurga Saint Barbara Church

Ruined medieval church at the village of Dikhazurga in the Gali district of Abkhazia

This article is an orphan, as no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; try the Find link tool for suggestions. (March 2021)

|

Dikhazurga Saint Barbara Church
დიხაზურგის წმინდა ბარბარეს ეკლესია(in Georgian)

The Dikhazurga plaque (Janashvili, 1907)

Religion
Affiliation| Georgian Orthodox
District| Gali district
Province| Abkhazia[1]
Location
Location|  Dikhazurga [ru], Gali district, Abkhazia, Georgia

Shown within Abkhazia

Show map of Abkhazia

Dikhazurga Saint Barbara Church (Georgia)

Show map of Georgia

Geographic coordinates| 42°37′08″N 41°50′53″E﻿ / ﻿42.61889°N 41.84806°E﻿ / 42.61889; 41.84806Coordinates: 42°37′08″N 41°50′53″E﻿ / ﻿42.61889°N 41.84806°E﻿ / 42.61889; 41.84806
Architecture
Type| Church

The Dikhazurga church of Saint Barbara (Georgian: დიხაზურგის წმინდა ბარბარეს ეკლესია, Abkhazian: Дихазургатәи Барбара ацқьа луахәама) is a ruined medieval church at the village of Dikhazurga in the Gali district of Abkhazia, an entity in the South Caucasus with a disputed political status.[2]

## History[edit]

The ruins were first described in 1907 by the historian Mose Janashvili, sent by the Caucasus Division of the Moscow Imperial Archaeological Society in response to an incidental find of an old Georgian stone inscription in the vicinity. The ruins of a hall-church-type chapel, traditionally held to have been built in honor of Saint Barbara, lie in the historical district of Samurzakano, on the right bank of the Enguri River, in what was an estate of the nobleman Mikia at the time of Janashvili's visit. By that time, the church had already been reduced to a pile of white limestone blocks.[3] A white limestone plaque discovered there bears an image, carved in relief, of a man who is turned in supplication towards the cross. Above this scene there is a Georgian inscription, carved in the mkhedruli script and paleographically dated to the 11th century, making it one of the earliest specimens of this latest version of the Georgian alphabet. The text mentions "Gregory, the chief mason" (გრიგოლ გალატოზთუხუცესი).[4]

## References[edit]

1. ^ The political status of Abkhazia is disputed. Having unilaterally declared independence from Georgia in 1992, Abkhazia is formally recognised as an independent state by 5 UN member states (two other state recognised it but then withdrew its recognition), while Georgia continues to claim it as part of its own territory, designating it as Russian-occupied territory.
2. ^ St. Barbara church in Dikhazurga village. Historical monuments of Abkhazia — Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia.
3. ^ Janashvili, Mose (1907). "От Ново-Сенак до сел. Дихазурга : (Отчет по командировке в Самурзакано)" [From New Senaki to the village Dikhazurga (Report of the mission to Samurzakano)]. Izvestiya Kavkazskogo Otdela Imperatorskogo Moskovskogo Arheologicheskogo Obshchestva (in Russian). 2 (1): 18–26.
4. ^ Kapanadze, Salome, ed. (2007). Georgian Cultural Heritage. Book 1: Abkhazeti. Tbilisi: Ministry of Education and Culture of Abkhazia. p. 109.