Ancha ( ka, ანჩის მონასტერი, ''anchis monasteri'') was a medieval Georgian monastery and cathedral church of the Bishopric of Ancha, located near what is now the village of Anaçlı,

Artvin Province Artvin Province (; Armenian language, Armenian: Արտվինի նահանգ ''Artvini nahang''; ka, , ''Artvinis p'rovintsia''; Laz language, Laz: ართვინიშ დობადონა ''Artvinish dobadona;'') is a Provinces of Turke ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Purportedly once a

cross-in-square A cross-in-square or crossed-dome floor plan was the dominant form of church architecture in the middle and late Byzantine Empire. It featured a square centre with an internal structure shaped like a cross, topped by a dome. Architecture Archite ...

design, the church now lies almost completely in ruins.Анчийская епархия
(''Ancha Eparchy''), in: «Православная энциклопедия» (2001), Т. 3, С. 14-15 ('' Orthodox Encyclopedia'', 2001, Vol. 3, pp. 14-15) nline version/ref> Djobadze, Wachtang Z. (1992), ''Early Medieval Georgian Monasteries in Historic Tao, Klarjet'i, and Šavšet'i'', pp. 54-56. F. Steiner, The earliest recorded information about the monastery of Ancha is found in c. 951 ''Vitae of

Gregory of Khandzta Gregory of Khandzta ( ka, გრიგოლ ხანძთელი, ''Grigol Khandzteli''; 759 – 5 October 861) was a Georgian ecclesiastic figure and a founder and leader of numerous monastic communities in Tao-Klarjeti, a historical regi ...

'' by

Giorgi Merchule Giorgi Merchule ( ka, გიორგი მერჩულე) was a 10th-century Georgian monk, calligrapher and writer who authored ''The Vita of Grigol Khandzteli'', a hagiographic novel dealing with the life of the prominent Georgian churchma ...

, which dates the church roughly to the early 9th century. It functioned as one of the principal religious and cultural centers of the principality of

Klarjeti Klarjeti ( ka, კლარჯეთი ) was a province of ancient and medieval Georgia, which is now part of Turkey's Artvin Province. Klarjeti, the neighboring province of Tao and several other smaller districts, constituted a larger region ...

, which was wrested of the Georgian control by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in the 1550s. By the middle of the 17th century, the church had been completely abandoned. Its surviving Christian relics, such as the venerated icon of the Savior, were transferred to the Georgian capital of

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

. Shortly after the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

takeover of the Artvin province, the historical Georgian churches and monasteries of the area were visited, in 1879, by the Georgian scholar

Dimitri Bakradze Dimitri Bakradze ( ka, დიმიტრი ბაქრაძე) (26 October 1826 – 10 February 1890) was a Georgian scholar who authored several influential works in the history, archaeology and ethnography of Georgia and the Caucasus. He ...

, who reported severe damage to Ancha. In 1904,

Nicholas Marr Nikolai Yakovlevich Marr (, ''Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr''; , ''Nikoloz Iak'obis dze Mari''; — 20 December 1934) was a Georgian-born historian and linguist who gained a reputation as a scholar of the Caucasus during the 1910s before embarking o ...

reported that only a portion of the monastery’s north-western and northern walls and an altar apse with a fragment of the cupola had been survived. Nowadays, the building is almost completely ruined.

References

Georgian Orthodox churches in Turkey Christian monasteries established in the 9th century Ruined churches in Turkey Tao-Klarjeti 9th century in the Byzantine Empire Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Turkey {{Turkey-church-stub