The Dodo Horn ( also known as Dodo church is a historical and architectural monument in the monastic complex of David Gareja

History

The church was founded by Dodo, one of the students of

David of Gareji David of Gareji ( ka, დავით გარეჯელი, tr; 'David who sits outside') () was an anchorite, Desert Father, wonderworker and one of the thirteen Assyrian Apostles of the Kingdom of Iberia. He is venerated as a saint in the ...

in the first half of the 6th century. Its history is directly linked to the general history of the monastery. In the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries the church was subjected to attacks by the Mongol dynasties, Teymurilar,

Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persian culture. The founder of th ...

and

Safavids The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...

, being sacked and abandoned repeatedly.

Architecture

The church consists of a complex of caves of various periods (VI-XVIII centuries). The main hall dates from the 11th-13th centuries. Used as a sanctuary, the most important and ancient part of the small church is in the corner of the rock. The main hall of the church is decorated with

frescoes Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

of great historical and cultural importance. The fresco on the central altar illustrates the blessing of Jesus, holding a closed book with a Georgian alphabet in his left hand. Also shown are some of the

archangels Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the Catholic hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book ''De Coelesti Hierarchia'' (''On the Celestial Hierarchy'') ...

such as Michael and Gabriel, as well as

cherubs A cherub (; : cherubim; ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'') is one type of supernatural being in the Abrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim assign to them many different roles, such as protecting the entrance of the Garden of ...

References

{{Reflist

Literature

* Chubinashvili N., Peshcher Monastery, David Gareji, T., 1948. Georgian Orthodox monasteries Christian monasteries established in the 6th century