DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27365#0079
URALS' OF /WF DOMFO CRO.S.S
67
Coming^-^^. For us it is important that the "Descent of the Hoiy Spirit" was shown
directiy above this scene and, as in the Akhtaia murais, the deep affinity between the
two was emphasised by iconographic means.
The Akhtaia "Last Judgement" thus is distinguished by a rare variety of
iconographic motifs which vividly and in many different ways illustrate the central
theme of salvation. Many symbolic threads bind the scenes on the west wall to
compositions in other parts of the church. The purpose of the iconographic
programme was to create a single image of the history of salvation in which the "Last
Judgement" was conceived to be the triumphant final act of a drama lasting many
centuries. Comparison with Byzantine and Georgian variants leads us to conclude that
a particular Georgian iconographic tradition underlies the interpretation of the "Last
Judgement" in the Akhtaia murals. Unlike the Georgian monuments, however, the
purely liturgical motifs are specially stressed at Akhtaia and this can be attributed to
the Armenian-Chalcedonian environment which was more closely in touch with the
church in Constantinople.
^30 gee L. Hadermann-Misguich, "La Grande Theophanie de Saint Georges de Kurbinovo et )e
decor du registre des prophetes", Z&owA. maze) na Makedont/'a, kn. Vt-VIt (1975), pp. 285-
95.
67
Coming^-^^. For us it is important that the "Descent of the Hoiy Spirit" was shown
directiy above this scene and, as in the Akhtaia murais, the deep affinity between the
two was emphasised by iconographic means.
The Akhtaia "Last Judgement" thus is distinguished by a rare variety of
iconographic motifs which vividly and in many different ways illustrate the central
theme of salvation. Many symbolic threads bind the scenes on the west wall to
compositions in other parts of the church. The purpose of the iconographic
programme was to create a single image of the history of salvation in which the "Last
Judgement" was conceived to be the triumphant final act of a drama lasting many
centuries. Comparison with Byzantine and Georgian variants leads us to conclude that
a particular Georgian iconographic tradition underlies the interpretation of the "Last
Judgement" in the Akhtaia murals. Unlike the Georgian monuments, however, the
purely liturgical motifs are specially stressed at Akhtaia and this can be attributed to
the Armenian-Chalcedonian environment which was more closely in touch with the
church in Constantinople.
^30 gee L. Hadermann-Misguich, "La Grande Theophanie de Saint Georges de Kurbinovo et )e
decor du registre des prophetes", Z&owA. maze) na Makedont/'a, kn. Vt-VIt (1975), pp. 285-
95.