The Largvisi Monastery ( ka, ლარგვისის მონასტერი) is a medieval

Georgian Orthodox The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...

monastic foundation at the village of Largvisi in the

Ksani The Ksani (, , ''Ĉysandon'') is a river in central Georgia, which rises on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in South Ossetia and flows into the Kura (''Mtkvari''). It is long, and has a drainage basin of .

river valley in the

Akhalgori Municipality Akhalgori Municipality or Leningor District ( ka, ახალგორის მუნიციპალიტეტი, os, Ленингоры район, russian: Ахалгорский муниципалитет) is a Municipality in Georgia o ...

, what is now the disputed territory of

South Ossetia South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated popula ...

. The monastery is documented from the early 14th century. The extant church, a domed

cross-in-square A cross-in-square or crossed-dome plan was the dominant architectural form of middle- and late-period Byzantine churches. It featured a square centre with an internal structure shaped like a cross, topped by a dome. The first cross-in-square c ...

design, dates to 1759. It was a familial abbey of the Kvenipneveli dynasty, Dukes of Ksani and one of the leading noble families of the

Kingdom of Kartli The Kingdom of Kartli ( ka, ქართლის სამეფო, tr) was a late medieval/ early modern monarchy in eastern Georgia, centred on the province of Kartli, with its capital at Tbilisi. It emerged in the process of a t ...

History

The 15th-century Georgian chronicle of the dukes of Ksani ascribes the foundation of the monastery to the family's legendary 6th-century ancestor Rostom, allegedly a contemporary of the Byzantine emperor

Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renova ...

. The monastery is historically better documented from the early 14th century, when generations of the dukes of Ksani made donations to it. The monastery was destroyed during

Timur's invasions of Georgia The Kingdom of Georgia, a Christian kingdom in the Caucasus, was subjected, between 1386 and 1403, to several disastrous invasions by the armies of Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur, whose vast empire stretched, at its greatest extent, from Central ...

in 1400 and rebuilt and frescoed by Grigol Bandaisdze. In 1470, the monastery was further renovated by the duke Shalva, who also built a defensive wall with a bell-tower on it.

Shanshe, Duke of Ksani Shanshe, Duke of Ksani ( ka, შანშე ქსნის ერისთავი) (born end of 17th century – died 1753), was a politician from Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti. From 1718 was eristavi of Ksani. In 1719 he insurrected against ki ...

, added further fortifications, turning it into his castle. In 1759, the church was built de novo as the Monastery of St. Theodore Tyron by the duke David and his mother Ketevan. The event is commemorated in a Georgian ''

asomtavruli The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their letters share the same names and alphabetical order and are written hor ...

'' inscription of the icon of the

Theotokos ''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or '' Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are ...

from Largvisi. This still-extant edifice, which replaced the older domeless one, had a completely new layout.

Architecture

The Largvisi Monastery sits on a slope of a hill on the confluence of the Ksani and Churta rivers. It is a domed cross-in-square church, with the dimensions of approximately 20 x 12 m. The overall plan is elongated on an east-west axis. The church is built of brick and covered with blocks of hewn stone, with four stone pillars in the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-typ ...

. The dome rests upon high

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

s joining in a cross shape. The church has two, western and southern entrances. Above the western window is a sculpture carved in stone—a human right hand and tools of masonry. The defensive structures adjoining the monastery are parts of a citadel with ruined walls and towers higher on the hill.

References

{{Authority control Eastern Orthodox church buildings in Georgia (country) Georgian Orthodox monasteries 18th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance of Georgia Christian monasteries established in the 14th century 14th century in the Kingdom of Georgia 18th century in Georgia (country)