Saint George of Etseri

Abstract

The article focuses on efforts to recreate the plans and inscriptions of the demolished Saint George church of Etsteri. In the 1920s, the following toponyms were recorded at the research site: Gudzuba, Naokhvamu, Nadokhoru, Tcheleti Jikha, Zhughejianish Dikha. The ruins were so impressive that the researchers considered them to be the remains of the mythical Egris (see chart. 1). Soon, in the 1930s, the place was destroyed to the point that in 1976, when we visited for the first time, only the remnants of a wall of an indistinct building could be seen on the hill covered with thorns.

In 1996, when local residents cleared the site, it turned out to be a basilica-type church, which we described and created a floor plan (see chart. 2), and most importantly, we published the two Asomtavruli-Kidurtsaisruli (XI century) inscriptions found there (in 1996 and 2005). Unfortunately, the second complete inscription was deciphered incorrectly. After the total destruction of the church, we decided to correct the mistakes made in the previous publications and presenting new material, which is given in this work.