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Церковная архитектура Абхазии в эпоху Абхазского царства. Конец VIII — X в.
The Abkhazian princes (mtavars), who united under their rule the ancient Abasgia
and Apsilia, in the late 8th century received from Byzantium the control over Lazika-Egrisi, but shortly thereaft er (about 787) fell from the Empire and proclaimed themselves to be independent kings. In the 9th century the ecclesiastic and cultural development in the Abkhazian Kingdom was poor, so that even for the foundation of a monastery the Abkhazian king was forced to invite an abbot from Klarjeti. Only aft er returning to the union with Byzantium in 880-s starts an active church construction, especially in Abkhazia, the old domain of the Abkhazian kings. The churches were built also in the Southern Zechia (modern Sochi region), joined now to the Abkhazian Kingdom; the ancient churches were restored too. The heyday of church building falls in the reign of George II (922–957) and Leon III (957–967). Under Demetre III in the 970-ies begins the internecine war that only ends with the accession of the fi rst common Georgian king Bagrat I, who brings in the Abkhazian Kingdom the building traditions of Tao-Klarjeti. Geographically, the monuments of the Abkhazian church architecture built in the period of the Abkhazian Kingdom are distributed mainly on the territory from Sochi to Novy Afon (to the south of it only tw o cathedrals in Mokvi and Bedia (the fi rst building) can be noted). However, in this space they are placed not uniformly, but form some close groups around major centres: in the regions of Sochi, Pitsunda, Lykhny and Anakopia (only Miussera church stands apsrt). From the chronological point of view, we do not know here the churches which are precisely dated to a time before the late 9th century. Most of the churches of Abkhazia of the late 9th – 10th century belong to the “Abkhazian” architectural school; its evolution followed mainly the complication of the architectural ty pe of the inscribed cross, and can be divided into three stages: the period of Bagrat I and Constantine III (890ies — early 920ies), the period of George II (late 920ies — mid 950ies) and the period of Leon III (957-967).Aft er it the other builders erected the cathedrals in Pitsunda (about 970) and Bedia (about 999). To the builders of Pitsunda cathedral, who came from Byzantium and Tao, can be presumably attributed also church no. 5 in Pitsunda and the cloisonnée basilica in Kiach, as well as the reconstruction of a similar basilica in Miussera. The last tw o monuments stand out in the architecture of Abkhazia, representing Kartlian ty pes, although built under some infl uence of the “Abkhazian” school. The church architecture of Abkhazia of the late 9th – 10th century presents a signifi cant number of monuments (primarily of the “Abkhazian” school) — thirty -tw o, which are quite evenly distributed across 3 major architectural ty pes: 10 or 11 hall churches, 7 basilicas of diff erent ty pes and 13 or 14 one-domed churches; aside stands the biapsidal church no. 5 in Pitsunda, which had possibly four domes. Among the basilicas we see a considerable number of cloisonnée basilicas (5) and reconstructed early Byzantine basilicas (4) in the complete absence of new basilicas on pillars or columns and the absolute dominance of the vaulted ceilings, in contrast to the Early Byzantine period. Among the single-domed churches dominates the complex inscribed cross (with bemas) on cruciform pillars (8 monuments): together with 2 or 3 “domed halls (Kuppelhalle)” in Bambora they form the basis of the “Abkhazian” architectural school of the late 9th – 10th century; other ty pes of domed buildings are very rare. In the church architecture of Abkhazia in the period of the Abkhazian Kingdom the infl uence of the Transcaucasian architecture can be traced to be very limited: the later inspires only tw o cloisonnée basilicas without protruding apses in Miussera and Kiach and partly the decoration of the churches in the Bzyb fortress and Msygkhua (940–970-ies), but this infl uence came from the Western Kartli and Samtskhe, which were also under the rule of the Abkhazian kings. On the contrary, the local “Abkhazian” architectural school, to which belong most of the churches of Abkhazia of the late 9th – 10th century, infl uenced both the above-mentioned Abkhazian monuments of Transcaucasian sty le and partly the architecture of Kartli and Kakheti, as well as of Alania. The main architectural infl uence on Abkhazia, which led to the emergence of the “Abkhazian” school, had the mid-Byzantine architecture of Pontus: the latter brought here the complex ty pe of the inscribed cross church on cruciform pillars, which had a special development during the fi rst tw o thirds of the 10th century, from the simple church of St. Simon in Anakopia (899?) to the sophisticated cathedral of Mokvi (957–967). Of special note is Pitsunda Cathedral, built by a mixed crew from Byzantium and Tao, which actively used decorative brickwork and consoles. From the point of view of the building techniques, the Abkhazian churches of the late 9th – 10th century mainly follow the Byzantine traditions of Pontus, which is characterized by stone walls and vaults, brick arches of various kinds, cut stone facades, semi-open porches, cruciform pillars, stepped buttress arches, combination of multifaceted central and semicircular lateral apses. The early Byzantine bricks and tiles were oft en secondary used. The fl oors are made mostly of concrete, sometimes with brick dust. Churches usually have many entries with wooden doors, and a large number of narrow windows with wooden ore stone frames with round glass; the windows are oft en located by three in the form of a pyramid. The Transcaucasian building tradition is refl ected only in the stone decorations of the facades of some churches (see above), ceramic antefi xes (in Msygkhua) and a number of elements in Pitsunda cathedral, originating from Tao. The decoration in Abkhazian churches is poor. Only a small number of monuments (Bzyb, Mokvi, Msygkhua churches, St. Theodore in Anakopia) have stone reliefs on the facades. Judging by the only fully preserved church in Lykhny and some excavations, it can be assumed that the churches of the “Abkhazian” school had dentil cornice. An exception in this sense is Pitsunda cathedral, where the opus mixtum and cloisonnée masonry, ceramic pseudo-meander and patterns from overfi red brick were used. Carving in Abkhazian churches was focused predominantly on the altar screen. Although most of the churches were plastered inside (defi nitely not plastered originally were only Bzyb church and Pitsunda cathedral), the fragments of frescoes of the late 9th – 10th century are preserved only in Lykhny and Krion Neron. The liturgical devices in the churches of Abkhazia are presented by a raised altar platform (the question of the function of the lateral apses oft en remains open) and altar screen with small columns and architrave; liturgical function had also several entrances and semi-open porches. The churches oft en held burials. The Abkhazian church architecture of the late 9th – 10th century is not a peripheral, but one of the most important phenomena of the Eastern Christian architecture of this period. By the number of domed churches (13 to 15), the most complex and “prestigious” for those times, it greatly exceeds most of its neighbours: Alania (5), Egrisi (3 or 4), Kartli (6), Kakheti (6), Samtskhe and Javakheti (5), Vaspurakan (about 5), Chaldia (0), and is comparable with Syunik (13), the Kingdom of Ani (about 18) and Tao-Klarjeti (about 25). As for the size of buildings, the biggest churches of Abkhazia (in Mokvi and Pitsunda) are comparable to the cathedrals of the neighbouring regions (Oshki, Ishkhani, Shirakavan, Ani cathedral, Panagia Chrysokephalos in Trebizond) or even significantly surpass them (Martvili, Kumurdo, Middle Zelenchuk church, Argina, St. Apostles in Kars, St. Cross on Akhtamar).
