Satkhe Church (Ninotsminda)

Satkhe Church stands in Satkhe village, Ninotsminda Municipality, Samtskhe-Javakheti. Its eleventh-century masonry, carved decoration, inscriptions and later adjoining church bring several historical layers together. This Satkhe should not be confused with the church of the same name in Bolnisi Municipality.

History and founder

The church is attributed to Parsman Tmogveli, duke of Javakheti during the reign of Bagrat IV, and dated to before 1065. A now-lost inscription on the southern doorway's lintel asked God to exalt Parsman, duke of dukes, and recorded that he had built the church for his glory and as a place of prayer for his parents.

The hall and façades

The hall church is built of carefully dressed reddish and yellowish stone. It had entrances on the west and south; the southern doorway was later blocked. Originally there was one window each in the east and west and two in the south. Of these original openings, the eastern window survives.

A broad arched window occupies the axis of the semicircular eastern apse. Deep arched niches on either side rise from almost floor level to halfway up the window. The conch once rested on an arch spanning the apse shoulders. Two pairs of two-stage pilasters divide the longitudinal walls: the lower capitals are stepped and profiled, the upper ones plain. Vault-supporting arches sprang from the upper stages, while decorative wall arcades were associated with the lower ones. Both the vault and the apse conch have been entirely lost.

The east window retains parallel twisted mouldings and the arched portion of an ornament formed from concentric circles; the rest was cut away when the opening was enlarged. Above it, a horizontal row of semicircles opening to the right decorates the stone edge. Another original window surround was reused in the east window of the Armenian church adjoining to the south. It has a plain moulded arch resting on an ornamental base.

Fragments of an earlier doorway surround are embedded in the south and west walls. Its triple frame combined a wedge-shaped ornament, paired twisted mouldings and a broad rectangular ornamental border. The main decorative emphasis appears to have been on the southern façade.

Relief and commemorative inscription

A surviving carved lintel shows the Virgin and Child among fruit-bearing vines, evoking the Garden of Paradise. Each side of the border has a different ornament. The field is divided into three parts, with plain ends and the image in the centre.

East of the doorway, an eleven-line inscription in Georgian ecclesiastical script, dated to the twelfth–thirteenth centuries, records a two-day commemorative observance for Giorgi Shazelisdze and his sons. It names Saint Barbara's feast and the commemoration of the Second Coming, requires the full use of the offered wine and communion bread, and forbids the omission of the liturgy. Beginning with a prayer for forgiveness for Giorgi and his sons, it makes anyone neglecting the service answerable under church law.

The inscription and carved lintel now lie within the interior of the Armenian Apostolic church added on the south in 1877. Their position helps explain the relationship between the medieval Georgian church and the later building.

Visiting

Allow time to study the carvings and lettering, and arrange access to enclosed spaces locally. Continue a journey through Ninotsminda Municipality with Gandzani Church of Saint John the Baptist, Saghamo Church and Lake Paravani.