Georgian Architecture

A documented photo-archival collection on on microfiche

microfiche with
with 47,000
47,000
photographs for the study of Early and Late Medieval Christian Architectural
area of
Arts of Georgia and its historical area of settlement.
settlement.

Editor: Gundoif
Editor: Gundolf Bruchhaus, University
University of Technology, Aachen, in cooperation
cooperation with the
Institute of Georgian Art History, Academy of Sciences of Georgia, Tbilisi

!IIDC
IDC
Georgian Architecture

Introduction
importance in the
Of particular importance system of architectural genealogy.
genealogy.
architectural history of Christianity
Christianity isis Before this
this can be done, however,
however,
without doubt the area south
south of
of the
the detailed knowledge of the whole
whole
Caucasus centred on Georgia and inventory of monuments
monuments is required and
and
Armenia within their present political the material must be made
made available
available in
borders together with the historical
historical the form of photographs, groundplans
groundplans
area of settlement of the two
two peoples
peoples and sectional drawings.
extending far into North-Eastern
North-Eastern
Together with its predecessor, the the
Turkey. The reasons for this
this lie not
not oniy
only
microfiche inventory
inventory of Ar,nenian
Armenian
in the central geopolitical position thethe
(IDC Leiden), the present
Architecture (IDC
region occupies at the crossroads of of the
publication Georgian
Georgian Architecture
Architecture
most important trade routes which
which
meets these fundamental
fundamental requirements
requirements
linked Asia and the Near East to
of science. As Professor
Professor Cyril Mango
Europe, but also in the early
states in his preface to the first volume,
volume,
of the
Christianization of the country.
country.
result of the work on this project
the result
When about the year 330 St. Nino will provide,
will provide, "...
"... an exhaustive archive,
archive,
converted Mirian, the king of Georgia,
Georgia, geographically, which at long
arranged geographically,
Christianity immediately became the the last places the study of the most notable
notable
official
official religion. It remained the
the achievements of medieval Caucasian art
unifying bond of the nation for many
many scientific basis".
on a new and more scientific
centuries. The history of the country
G. Bruchhaus Dmanisi church; 1213-1222; detail of the west facade of
marked by numerous terrible wars,
was marked the portico;
portico; photo:
photo: Institute Chubinashvili.
partitions, and periods of foreign
foreign rule
rule
Cover illustation:
illuslation:
under the Romans, the Byzantines, the (Mtskhetha), SamFavro church;first half of the
MtixePa (Mtskhetha),
11th century;
llth century;view
viewfrom
fromthe
theNorth-West;
North-west; photo;
photo: Institute
Persians, the Arabs, the Mongols and Chubinashvili.
Chubinashvili.
the Turks. Though the foreign rulers did
not succeed
succeed in imprinting their cultural
stamp on the country during the time of
respective occupations,
their respective occupations, the history
of Georgia is nevertheless characterized
by continual interaction with foreign
cultural influences, while at the same
same
time the country sought to maintain and
further develop
further develop its national architectural
produced the
tradition. This situation produced
unified artistic phenomenon which
unified which has
come down to us as Georgian
Georgian Christian
architecture and which reached its
apogees
apogees in periods of relative calm,
particularly between the 11th
llth and the The project
13th century (Golden age).
The microfiche publication
publication Georgian Architecture
Architecture marks
marks the
the culmination
culmination of a
The external conditions outlined above,
above, process
process of documentation begun in the nineteenth
nineteenth century
century byby individual researchers
also be added
to which must also added the general and carried on later, first by private and then by state-run institutions.
institutions. Today
Today the
the
availability of rubble and hewn stone as
availability project lies in the hands of the Institute of Georgian Art History, a division of of the
the
favoured building materials, were not
not of Academy of Sciences
Academy Sciences of
of Georgia,
Georgia, Tbilisi.
Thilisi. There
There bas
bas been
beenclose
closecooperation
cooperation on
on the
the
restricted to Georgia
course restricted Georgia alone. The project with
with the following
following international
international and
and national
national institutions:
institutions:
most important phases in the
development of Christian architecture in PolyteLnico di
- Polyk^nico di Milano
Milano (Prof.
(Prof. A.
A. Alpago-Novello
Armenia and Byzantium offer many -- Institut für Kunstgeschichte
Kunstgeschichte der Rheinisch-Westfälischen-Technischen Hochschule
Hochschule
parallels to that of Georgia.
parallels Georgia. (University of Technology), Aachen
Nonetheless, it is the case that some - Research on Armenian Architecture, Aachen
Aachen
national characteristics
characteristics of Georgian
Georgian - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Institute, Troy,
Troy, New
New York
York (Prof. V.L.
V.L. Parsegian)
Parsegian)
architecture are immediately apparent
apparent - Department of History, Ethnography and Archaeology
Archaeology and
even to the layman. It is the task of Archaeological Centre, Thilisi
Archaeological Tbilisi
scholarship
scholarship to define these specific -- Department of Manuscripts,
Manuscripts, Thilisi
Tbilisi
features and to classify them within the - Office for the Preservation
Preservation of Historical
Historical Monuments, Thilisi
Tbilisi
The collection
The collection will be organized
organized
geographically.
geographically. Each volume will
contain approximately 6,000
6,000
photographs, including
including plans, sectional
sectional
drawings, a short account of the
building's history and architectural
features as well as a bibliography for
features
each monument.
monument. A map indicates the
location of each site.
Volume 1
Kcartcli (central area) (map: la)
- Sida Kcart1i la)
Volume 2
Kcartcli (highlands)
- Sida KCart1i (highlands) (map:
(map: ib)
Ib)
Xevsuretci (map: 2)
-- Xevsuretci 2)
-- Xevi (map: 3)
Mtciuletci (map: 4)
-- Mtciuletci
-- Pcsavi (map:
(map: 5)
5)
Volume 3
Kaxetci (map:
-- Kaxet9
.' ,···'. t m
Volume 4
(map: 6)
6)
.·
Kaxetci (map:
-- Kaxetci (map: 6)
6)
Kcvemo Kcartcli
-- Kevemo Kcartcli (map: 7)
7)
Xevsure^i, village of Satili; general view; photo: Institute Chubinashvili.
general view; Chubinashvili.
Volume 5
-- Raca (map: 8)
8)
-- Lec°xumi (map: 9)
9)
Svanetci (map:
-- Svanet9 (map: 10)
10)
-- Imeretci
Imerefi (map: 11)
11) Introductory guide
guide Finding aids
Volume 66
The microfiche
microfiche archive
archive is accompanied
accompanied Printed table of contents
contents for each
-- Samegrelo (map: 12)
12)
by a printed introductory
introductory guide with
with the
the volume,
volume.
-- Guria (map: 13)
13)
c
Apcxazetci
-- Ap following contents:
contents:
xazet°i (map: 14) Printed integrated alphabetical,
-- Acara (map: 15)
15) - Foreword by Cyril
Cyril Mango
Mango geographical, and chronological index
History of the project
- History to the complete collection.
Volume 77
- Introduction
Introduction to Georgian geography,
Samccxe Tavaxetci
-- Samccxe Tavaxet°i (map: 16)
16)
Tcrialetci (map: 17)
-- Trialefi history, language, script and
architecture
Volume 88 - Transliteration systems
-- Monuments beyond the present - Monument
Monument code number system
boundaries of Georgia -- Extensive specialized bibliography
Scope
Scope volume
c. 6,000 photographs per volume
Number of fiche c. 120 per volume
c. 120

Size of fiche 105 χx 148 mm

105
Film type
type Positive silver halide
Reduction ratio 18
11:: 18
External A printed table of contents
contents for
for each
each volume,
volume, and
and aa printed
printed
finding aids alphabetical,geographical
integrated alphabetical, geographical and
andchronological
chronological index.
index.
Storage introductory guide, the tables of contents, and the microfiche
The introductory
in sturdy
are supplied in sturdy plastic
plastic binders
binders with
with dust
dust cover.
cover.
Order number
Order GA-1
GA-i

complete collection
The complete collection will
will consist
consist of
of 88 volumes.
volumes.

Uphlistsikhe: site of the ancient town hewn in

in the
the rock,
rock, three
three churched
churched basilica,
basilica, view
view from
from the
the hail
hall with
with two
two pillars
pillars(from
(from
the South-West). Laboratory of Art
South-west). Fixation Laboratory Art Monuments, Tbilisi.
Thilisi.

Π IDC
!IIDC