Bedia Cathedral
Bedia Cathedral is a medieval Georgian Orthodox cathedral in Agubedia, Ochamchire Municipality (Abkhazia).
According to the preserved ornamental fragments, the cathedral was originally built in the 10th-11th centuries. The renovated building belongs to the 13th-14th centuries. Bedia Cathedral represents the earliest examples of the ancient Georgian cult buildings that prevailed in the 11th-13th centuries and continued to exist in a more refined form during the following centuries.
The church has three entrances — from the south, north and west. From the outside, it is built with a cleanly trimmed sandstone. All the windows of the church are preserved. The dome rests on two piers and the corners of the sanctuary walls.
It also seems that the painting of the walls were made from the very beginning. The preserved fragments contain three chronological layers. The first, earliest layer dates back to the end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 11th century. The second layer dates back to the 13th-14th centuries, when the temple was renovated. The latest layer dates back to the 16th-17th centuries.
On the west side of the cathedral are the ruins of a large palace and bell-tower gate (14th century). At the end of the 19th century, the cathedral was already a ruin covered with plants. In 1952, 1968-1971 and 1985, the monument underwent restoration works (architects L. Khimshiashvili, I. Varsimashvili, V. Sakvarelidze, M. Uridia), which saved it from destruction.
Bedia Cathedral is currently in the occupied territory.
Literature: ა მ ი რ ა ნ ა შ ვ ი ლ ი შ., ქართული ხელოვნების ისტორია, თბ., 1971; ვ ა რ ს ი მ ა შ ვ ი ლ ი ი., ბედია, «ძეგლის მეგობარი», 1973, № 31 – 32; Ш е р в а ш и д з е Л. А., Средневековая монументальная живопись в Абхазии, Тб., 1980.
