# Tigva Monastery

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{{Short description|Monastery in Tigva, Georgia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox religious building
| building_name           = Tigva Monastery
| image                   = Tigva church. Southern view. Uvarova 1894.jpg
| image_size              = 
| caption                 = The Tigva church, {{circa|1890}}
| map_type                = Georgia
| map_size                = 275
| location                = [Tigva](/source/Tigva), [South Ossetia](/source/South_Ossetia)/[Shida Kartli](/source/Shida_Kartli), [Georgia](/source/Georgia_(country))
| coordinates             = {{coord|42.198333|43.760278|display=inline,title}}
| religious_affiliation   = [Georgian Orthodox Church](/source/Georgian_Orthodox_Church)
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| architecture_type       = [cross-in-square](/source/cross-in-square) [church](/source/Church_(building))
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| year_completed          = 1152
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The '''Tigva Monastery''' of the [Dormition of the Mother of God](/source/Dormition_of_the_Mother_of_God) ({{lang-ka|თიღვის მონასტერი}}) is a medieval [Georgian Orthodox](/source/Georgian_Orthodox) monastic church at the village of {{ill|Tigva|ceb|Tighva|es|}} in the Prone river valley in what is now the disputed territory of [South Ossetia](/source/South_Ossetia). The monastery building is a domed [cross-in-square](/source/cross-in-square) design. It was founded by [Tamar](/source/Tamar%2C_daughter_of_David_IV_of_Georgia), daughter of King [David IV of Georgia](/source/David_IV_of_Georgia), who is commemorated in a Georgian inscription dated to 1152.

== History ==
The foundation of the Tigva church is mentioned in the Georgian chronicles<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomson |first=Robert W. |author-link=Robert W. Thomson |title=Rewriting Caucasian history: the medieval Armenian adaptation of the Georgian chronicles; the original Georgian texts and the Armenian adaptation |year=1996 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-826373-2 |page=325}}</ref> and dated by the construction inscription to 1152. Its donor, or ''[ktetor](/source/ktetor)'', was Tamar, daughter of the Georgian king David IV "the Builder" and the dowager-queen of [Shirvan](/source/Shirvan), who became a nun at Tigva and died there {{circa|1161}}.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hasan |first=Hadi |title=Falaki-i-Shirwani: His Times, Life and Works |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.77177 |year=1929 |publisher=Royal Asiatic Society |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.77177/page/n20 14]}}</ref> By the early 18th-century, a crisis in Georgia had taken its toll on the monastery: [Prince Vakhushti](/source/Prince_Vakhushti), in his ''[Description of the Kingdom of Georgia](/source/Description_of_the_Kingdom_of_Georgia)'', described the monastery at Tigva as "domed, elegant, beautifully built", but "without a priest". Several additional buildings surrounding the church, still extant in Vakhushti's times, were found in ruins by Countess [Praskovya Uvarova](/source/Praskovya_Uvarova) during her visit in 1890.<ref>{{cite book |last=[Wakhoucht](/source/Prince_Vakhushti) |first=Tsarévitch |editor1-first=Marie-Félicité |editor1-last=Brosset |editor1-link=Marie-Félicité Brosset |title=ღეოღრაჶიული აღწერა საქართველოჲსა. Description géographique de la Géorgie |trans-title=Geographic description of Georgia |year=1842 |publisher=A la typographie de l'Academie Impériale des Sciences |location=S.-Pétersbourg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4JkOAAAAQAAJ&q=Odich |language=ka, fr |pages=264–265}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Uvarova |first1=Praskovya |script-title=ru:Материалы по археологии Кавказа, собранные экспедициями Московского археологического общества. Вып. 4 |trans-title=Materials for archaeology of the Caucasus, collected by the expeditions of the Moscow Archaeological Society, Issue 4 |date=1894 |publisher=Moscow Archaeological Society |location=Moscow |pages=165–172 |url=http://elib.shpl.ru/ru/nodes/24478-vyp-4-hristianskie-pamyatniki-grafini-uvarovoy-1894#page/1/mode/grid/zoom/1 |language=ru}}</ref> Shortly after Uvarova's visit, the church was repaired through the efforts of the priest Zedginidze, princes [Amirejibi](/source/Amirejibi), and local peasants in 1890.<ref>{{cite journal |title=თიღვის განთქმული ტაძარი ... |journal=Iveria |date=29 August 1890 |volume=185 |pages=1–2 |url=https://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/51026/1/Iveria_1890_N185.pdf |trans-title=The famous church of Tigva... |language=ka}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=სოფ. თიღვა (გორის მაზრა) |journal=Iveria |date=19 December 1890 |volume=270 |page=2 |url=https://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/51235/1/Iveria_1890_N270.pdf |trans-title=Village Tigva (Gori district) |language=ka}}</ref>

== Architecture ==
The monastery building, built of blocks of hewn reddish stone, is a well-preserved cross-domed church, inscribed in a rectangle, with the dimensions of 15 x 24&nbsp;m. Noted for ascetic design and paucity of decorations, the church has the [altar](/source/altar) with an [apse](/source/apse) and three rectangular transept arms. The [prothesis](/source/prothesis_(altar)) and [diaconicon](/source/diaconicon) are also apsed. The dome rests upon wall corners of the apse on the east and two free-standing pillars on the west. The characteristic feature is the presence of [narthex](/source/narthex) and [choir](/source/choir_(architecture)) on the west. The church has three entrances, to the north, south, and west.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Gamkrelidze |editor1-first=Gela |editor2-last=Mindorashvili |editor2-first=Davit |editor3-last=Bragvadze |editor3-first=Zurab |editor4-last=Kvatsadze |editor4-first=Marine |script-title=ka:ქართლის ცხოვრების ტოპოარქეოლოგიური ლექსიკონი |trans-title=Topoarchaeological Dictionary of Kartlis Tskhovreba (The History of Georgia) |date=2013 |publisher=Georgian National Museum |location=Tbilisi |isbn=978-9941-15-896-4 |edition=1st |url=https://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/41521/1/KartlisCxovrebisTopoarqeologiuriLeksikoni.pdf |language=ka |chapter=თიღვა [Tigva] |page=249}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Muskhelishvili |first1=David |last2=Tumanishvili |first2=Dimitri |last3=Gagoshidze |first3=Iulon |last4=Apakidze |first4=Joni |last5=Licheli |first5=Vakhtang |editor1-last=Skinner |editor1-first=Peter |title=The Cultural Heritage of Georgia — Abkhazeti, Shida Kartli |date=2008 |publisher=Georgian Arts and Culture Center |location=Tbilisi |page=17 |url=http://www.symposiumgeorgia.org/Georgia2009/Abxazeti%20Shida%20qartli%20Bukleti.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418081251/http://www.symposiumgeorgia.org/Georgia2009/Abxazeti%20Shida%20qartli%20Bukleti.pdf |url-status=usurped |archive-date=18 April 2017}}</ref> Mounted above the northern door is a Georgian inscription in the [asomtavruli](/source/asomtavruli) script, first published by [Marie-Félicité Brosset](/source/Marie-F%C3%A9licit%C3%A9_Brosset) in 1851.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brosset |first=Marie-Félicité |author-link=Marie-Félicité Brosset |title=Rapports sur un voyage archéologique dans la Géorgie et dans l'Arménie |language=fr |trans-title=Report on archaeological voyages in Georgia and Armenia |year=1851 |publisher=Imprimerie de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences |location=St.-Petersbourg |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_LZkLAAAAYAAJ |quote=village de Thighwa. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_LZkLAAAAYAAJ/page/n169 105]–107}}</ref> Its rhymed text mentions Tamar, a donor. The interior was once frescoed, but the murals are now barely discernible.

To the north-west of the main church building was a two-storey palace, built for Tamar. It was directly connected to the church gallery by means of a bridge through a door cut in the western part of the north wall.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Chitishvili |first1=Natalia |title=King's and queen's place in the interior of the Georgian church |url=http://www.farig.org/images/pdfs/2013/Natalia%20Chitishvili.pdf |publisher=Friends of Academic Research in Georgia |accessdate=17 April 2017 |pages=17–18 |year=2013}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{Commons category|Tigva Monastery}}

Category:1152 establishments in Asia
Category:1152 establishments in Europe
Category:12th-century churches in Georgia (country)
Category:12th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings
Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1150s
Category:Churches in South Ossetia
Category:Georgian Orthodox church buildings in Georgia (country)
Category:Georgian Orthodox monasteries
Category:Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance of Georgia

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tigva Monastery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigva_Monastery) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigva_Monastery?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.