Kumurdo Episcopal Cathedral

Kumurdo Episcopal Cathedral, a 10th-century monument of Georgian architecture (architect: Sakotsari). It is located in the village of Kumurdo (Akhalkalaki Municipality). The cathedral is an outstanding example of medieval Georgian architecture. It belongs to the type of six-apsed churches. Featuring a floor plan characteristic of the transitional period, it has a cruciform outline from the exterior, while internally, around a sub-domical hexagon, it originally had five semicircular apses opened toward the center and one rectangular arm to the west, which was divided into three naves by a pair of piers. The two apses each on the north and south sides run parallel to one another. The dome was erected upon arches resting on hexagonal pillars connected to the projections of the apses. Pendentives were used to achieve the circular plan of the dome's drum. The cathedral has two entrances—on the south and west sides.

Kumurdo Cathedral is distinguished by an abundance of inscriptions. It features construction, memorial, and agape (agape commemorative) inscriptions, as well as explanatory captions for depictions (more than five dozen inscriptions have been deciphered). During the clearing of the monument, restorers fully reconstructed its floor plan. The cathedral has survived to our day with major losses—the dome and a large portion of the vaults have collapsed, and the west wall has been destroyed and restored with architectural discrepancies.

In 1974, under the direction of R. Gverdtsiteli, restoration works were initiated on the cathedral, which continued with intervals until the late 1980s. In 2015, a project for the full rehabilitation of the cathedral was prepared, which continues under the leadership of architect-restorers T. Nemsadze and R. Guramishvili.

Literature: ბერიძე ვ., ქართული ხუროთმოძღვრების ისტორია, ტ. 1, თბ., 2014; სილოგავა ვ., კუმურდოს ტაძრის ეპიგრაფიკა, თბ.,1994; Чубинашвили Г., Кумурдо и Никорцминда как пример развития этапов стиля в грузинском искусстве, „Вопросы истории искусства“, 1970, т.1.

V. Beridze

G. Marsagishvili