Dört Kilise

Dört Kilise is a village in the Göle District (headwaters of the River Mtkvari, Ardahan Province, currently on the territory of Turkey). The Turkish name “Dört Kilise” means four churches. Its old Georgian name is unknown.

In 1902, Ekvtime Takaishvili visited the ruins of several churches here. The large, domed church is an interesting triconch-type building (all three apses are trihedral from the outside). The drum of the low dome was presumably supported by the walls through squinches. The walls were lined with small, square-shaped polished stones. The facades were not decorated. There are traces of paintings in the interior. E. Takaishvili dated the monument to the 9^th century. It is quite possible that it was a monument of the transitional period, that is, the 8^th-9^th centuries.

Other notable buildings include the “double” church, a small single-nave chapel and a cross-in-square church of the same size (without piers), which had two pointed, semicircular apses on the east and west, built side by side.

The church had a crypt.

 

Literature: Б е р и д з е  В. В., Место памятников Тао-Кларджети в истории грузинской архитектуры, Тб., 1981.

 

V. Beridze