The Church of Saint Saba
The largest church of Sapara Monastery was built in the late 13th century and is dedicated to St. Saba.
Saba was a monk and priest in the late 6th and early 7th centuries, who spent most of his live as a hermit in caves. Spending the rest of his live as a hermit is probably what Sargis I Jaqeli had in mind. He had been reigning over the Samtskhe-Javakheti region as its first sovereign prince since 1268, but at the end of his live decided to step down as ruler of the country and live as a monk. In doing so, he adopted the name Saba.
In honour of his father, Sargis’s son and successor, Beka I Jaqeli, then built St. Saba’s Church, presumably when his father was still alive, so before 1285. The work was executed by an architect named Parezasdze, his name can still be read on the window arch of the western church portal.
The interior of St. Saba’s Church is rather weakly illuminated by four windows, one in each arm of the cross-like shaped ground floor, and eight windows in the dome tholobate. A tholobate is an upright part of a church building, often in the shape of a cylinder, on which the dome roof is raised. Disregarding the poor lighting, the interior is always worth a visit, thanks to ancient wall paintings of great artistic value.
The murals on the southern wall are probably the oldest, dating back to the 14th century. They represent four members of the Jaqeli family, the rulers of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region from the mid13th to the mid-14th century: Sargis I, Beka I, Sargis II and Kvarkvare.
The western wall displays a number of biblical scenes. In the apse, on the ground floor, there are paintings of bishops and priests, while the tholobate contains murals of eight of the twelve disciples and in the dome, above them, the Ascension.
As the church is built on the edge of a rock, its eastern facade, hanging right over the abyss, is almost impossible to explore and has hardly any ornamentation.
The southern facade on the contrary has ornamentation around the entrance and windows, particularly the central window. The tympanum of the northern portal contains a cross with two medallions bearing birds. A tympanum is a semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance, door or window.
A bell tower a few meters to the west also belongs to the group. It is one of the oldest in Georgia and has a cubic first floor and a belfry on the upper floor. A belfry is a structure where bells are hung, usually as part of a bell tower.
One of the original stone slabs from St. Saba’s Church, engraved with a depiction of St. George defeating the dragon, can be seen on display in the National Art Museum of Georgia in Tbilisi.
Picture credits: beyondarts GmbH
Project “Increased regional added value in the tourism sectors of Georgia by Digital Heritage Tourism Guides” was funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) with funds of Austrian Development Cooperation.
