Kvarsha
Kvarsha, an architectural monument, a hall church of the end of the 7th and beginning of the 8th century, with its contemporary additional northern and southern buildings. It is located in the Akhalkalaki Municipality, in the village of the same name, in historical Javakheti, above the Khertvisi fortress. The church has three apses on the east side, the middle, main one, is twice as large as the side ones. On the outside, it is separated from the side apses by two deep niches triangular in plan. The lower parts of the church walls were built with smoothed basalt stones of various sizes, some of them are very large (1.25 m × 1.60 m), the upper part is laid out with horizontal rows of roughly smoothed stones and is the result of the capital repair of a later period (but not 10th–13th centuries). The central nave is covered with a vault, which is supported by arches. Inside, the walls are lined with straight rows of roughly leveled stones. Cleanly hewn stones were used for the corners of the altar, pilasters and their capitals, as well as the door and window lintels. Inscriptions made at different times in Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri have been preserved on the interior and facades. There is a roughly carved image of a person on the northern facade.
Literature: ჯაბუა ნ., ქრისტიანული ტაძრის არქიტექტურული ტიპები შუა საუკუნეების საქართველოში, თბ., 2012; Чубинашвили Н. Г., Церовани, Тб., 1976.
T. Gersamia
