Gantiadi church

Christian church in Gantiadi, Gagra district, Georgia

43°22′45″N 40°04′15″E / 43.37917°N 40.07083°E / 43.37917; 40.07083ArchitectureTypeChurchCompleted6th century

The Gantiadi Church or Tsandripshi Church (Georgian: განთიადის ტაძარი, Abkhaz: Ганҭиади иҟоу аныхабаа) is a 6th-century three-apse basilica, located in the settlement of Gantiadi (Gagra District) in Abkhazia.^[2]

History

Church was built in 543 AD by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (527-565) when Abazg tribes has been Christianized.

Church building was altered several times in 8-10th centuries. In 1576 it was partly destroyed by Ottoman invaders. It is one of the oldest Christian temples in the Western Caucasus. Nowadays only the ruins of the basilica are left standing.

In the ruins of the Basilica was found a fragment of the tombstone with the Greek uncial inscription. It seems most likely that the inscription belonged to the tomb of a clerical or secular dignitary of Abkhazia. The name of the buried is lost. The inscription is dated back to the 6th c. The church is a three-nave basilica, built of medium-size limestone Quadra of regular shape and flat bricks of varied sizes.

Tsandripshi church has been given the status of national importance monument.

References

^ 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 states previously recognised it but then withdrew their recognition), while the remainder of the international community recognizes it as as de jure Georgian territory. Georgia continues to claim the area as its own territory, designating it as Russian-occupied territory.
^ Church in (Tsandriphshi) Gantiadi settlement Historical monuments of Abkhazia — Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia.