NEW MATERIALS ABOUT NAKURALESHI ST. GEORGE CHURCH

Abstract

The project (FR21-4253) supported by the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation „Lechkhumi: Medieval Cultural Heritage“, was implemented by the Institute of Art History and Theory, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University in 2022. The aim of the project is recording and study of the antiquities of Lechkhumi – one of the historical regions of Georgia. The article presents the new materials identified within the framework of this project, namely one of the monuments of the region - Nakuraleshi church of St. George and its antiquities.
In 1910, while expedition held in Lechkhumi and Lower Svaneti led by Ekvtime Taqaishvili, Dimitri Ermakov photographed the interior of Nakuraleshi church of St. George and the antiquities preserved there. In these materials, attention is drawn to the row of eleven icons in the upper part of the chancel screen. Five of these icons are kept in the the Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia, the Georgian national Museum, are known in the scientific literature. The location of the remaining six icons of the chancel screen line remained unknown until now. During the fieldworks carried out within the project, during the recording the antiquities preserved in the residence of Metropolitan of the Diocese of Tsageri and Lentekhi, three of these six icons were revealed.
Nakuraleshi church of St. George is one of the few monuments of medieval Georgian church Architecture facade of which preserved the fragments of painting. Above else, it is the only confirmed example of the façade painting in the historical
Lechkhumi. Today painting on the western façade of Nakuraleshi church is heavily damaged and preserved as the fragments in the form of contour lines and spots. Thus, a photo revealed during the process of studying archival materials, on which western façade and its painted decoration of the church are recorded, is a primary source containing an important information concerning the façade murals in medieval Georgia.