Paravani Small Church

Paravani Small Church stands in the lower part of Paravani village, southwest of the caravanserai, in Ninotsminda Municipality, Samtskhe-Javakheti. Dated to the thirteenth–fourteenth centuries, it combines an austere exterior with a strikingly tall interior for its size.

The exterior

The church is built of dressed stone laid in horizontal courses, with smaller blocks used lower down. Its rebated southern doorway has a plain lintel outside and an arch inside. There are two windows: one in the east and another discreetly set into the southern wall, described as lying northeast of the doorway.

The façades are undecorated apart from a carved cornice combining a concave profile and a rounded moulding. The original roof was covered with stone slabs.

Inside the church

The small hall has markedly vertical proportions. Shoulders define the semicircular apse, and its conch rests on a triumphal arch supported by dressed impost blocks. The vault springs from undivided longitudinal walls. At floor level in the northern recess beside the sanctuary is a base stone with a socket facing towards the altar area.

The recorded damage affects the southern corner of the west façade, the middle of the north wall and the opening of the south window. The surviving masonry calls for careful viewing; avoid climbing onto walls or through damaged openings.

Other village monuments

This is a separate monument from the larger Paravani Church. Visiting both churches and the caravanserai adds a historical dimension to a journey around Lake Paravani. Check the approach and whether the interior can be entered safely when you arrive.