Khatskhi church

Katskhi domed church is located in the Namesake village, Chiatura district of Imereti region.  Currently the church stands in the middle of the cemetery encircled with the stone wall.  The late medieval porch incorporated into the wall is the only access point to the monument.   The church has got six apses and several ambulatories of relatively later times arranged around its perimeter.  The practice of building of the temples with six apses was common only in X century and this particular construction is one of the latest of the suite.  According to the construction inscription the church was built between 1010-1014 the latest.   The same inscription curved on the stone slab states that the representative of the ancient noble house of Bagvashi, the almighty feudal Rati Eristavt-Eristavi funded construction activities.  Apparently, the original exterior of the church was richly adorned, but in XIX c its upper sections were substituted and only outlines of the initial ornamentation were replicated (arcade and huge crosses).  Perfect adornment of entrances, image of “The Holly Cross Elevation” on the internal side of the ambulatory, several sculptures and fretwork decoration of the referred ambulatory are clear indicators of the building has been mostly spared – it is still perfectly illuminated and as if whirls around the center of the elevated dome.  Some remains of XIV-XV cc wall painting are still noticeable in the extreme southwestern part of the building.