Object description

The Kvabiskhevi church of the Dormition , also known as Mariamtsminda is a medieval Georgian Orthodox church, situated 2 km northwest of the village of Kvabiskhevi, Borjomi Municipality, in Georgia's south-central region of Samtskhe-Javakheti. A three-nave basilica, the church was constructed in the 8th or 9th century on a high rocky mountain slope, overlooking the steep descent into the deep river canyon. The church is known for its 12th–13th-century fresco portrait of the young nobleman named Shota, who is popularly believed to be the contemporaneous epic poet Shota Rustaveli. The Kvabiskhevi church is inscribed on the list of the Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance of Georgia.