DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43337#0327
324 I THE WALL PAINTINGS OF AKHTALA MONASTERY
3 losseliani P. Travel Notes: From Tiflis
to Akhtala, pp. 29-32. - In Russian, see
Bibliography.
4EritsovA.D. Akhtala Monastery,pp. 20-
24. - In Russian, see Bibliography.
5Takaishvili E. Georgian inscriptions of
Akhtala, pp. 138-45. - In Russian, see
Bibliography.
6 Gordeev D.P. On the CIHA expedition
to the Debed area in late 1925 and ear-
ly 1926, pp. 129-130. - In Russian, see
Bibliography.
7 Gordeev D.P. Akhtala near Lori: Re-
search Materials. Georgian Museum of
Arts, Fund of manuscripts and memoirs,
File 276, pp. 87-97. - In Russian, see
Bibliography.
8 Ibid., p. 173.
9 Gordeev D.P. On the CIHA expedition
to the Debed area in late 1925 and ear-
ly 1926, p. 130.
paintings. Today this list has become a unique source since some of
the representations and inscriptions to be seen in the last century are
now no longer extant. The text of Muraviev’s work is repeated, almost
word for word, in Platon losseliani’s Travel Notes from Tiflis to Akhta-
la3, which appeared two years later. However, the latter author made an
important amendment to the description of the Akhtala wall paintings.
Having read the Georgian inscription, he showed that the image which
Muraviev had taken to be Queen Tamar was actually St Catherine. The
writings of Muraviev and Yosseliani attracted the interest of scholars to
the Akhtala murals and laid the foundations for subsequent research.
Twenty years later a Tbilisi journal published Alexander Eritsov s ar-
ticle The Akhtala monastery which played an important role in the study
of the monument4. Here for the first time the monastery was identified
with Plindzahank, an ancient foundation frequently mentioned by me-
diaeval Armenian writers, thereby making it possible to date the paint-
ings historically. An interesting continuation of this article, so to speak,
is found in the work by Eugeny Takaishvili, where the Georgian inscrip-
tions connected with the Akhtala monastery were published5.
In the 1920s Dmitry Gordeev, a student of Feodor Shmit, embarked
on a study of the Akhtala wall paintings for the Caucasian Institute
of History and Archaeology6. However, his work was suspended at
the very outset and did not reach the stage of
publication. The archives of the Georgian Mu-
seum of Arts contain only a typewritten draft
of the article with a description of the frescoes
in the domed space and the altar apse, which
enables us to reconstruct certain details now
lost7. These archives also contain Gordeevs
rough notes. On one sheet was found a classi-
fication of the stylistic manners of the Akhtala
paintings8. Gordeev divided the paintings into
five groups situated in different parts of the
church: the most austere and archaic paint-
ings in the altar apse; those on the soffits of
the stepped arches; the lower tier of frescoes in
the south arm; the wall-paintings of the west
arm; and those in the upper tier of the south
arm with the upper tiers of the south wall. He
3 losseliani P. Travel Notes: From Tiflis
to Akhtala, pp. 29-32. - In Russian, see
Bibliography.
4EritsovA.D. Akhtala Monastery,pp. 20-
24. - In Russian, see Bibliography.
5Takaishvili E. Georgian inscriptions of
Akhtala, pp. 138-45. - In Russian, see
Bibliography.
6 Gordeev D.P. On the CIHA expedition
to the Debed area in late 1925 and ear-
ly 1926, pp. 129-130. - In Russian, see
Bibliography.
7 Gordeev D.P. Akhtala near Lori: Re-
search Materials. Georgian Museum of
Arts, Fund of manuscripts and memoirs,
File 276, pp. 87-97. - In Russian, see
Bibliography.
8 Ibid., p. 173.
9 Gordeev D.P. On the CIHA expedition
to the Debed area in late 1925 and ear-
ly 1926, p. 130.
paintings. Today this list has become a unique source since some of
the representations and inscriptions to be seen in the last century are
now no longer extant. The text of Muraviev’s work is repeated, almost
word for word, in Platon losseliani’s Travel Notes from Tiflis to Akhta-
la3, which appeared two years later. However, the latter author made an
important amendment to the description of the Akhtala wall paintings.
Having read the Georgian inscription, he showed that the image which
Muraviev had taken to be Queen Tamar was actually St Catherine. The
writings of Muraviev and Yosseliani attracted the interest of scholars to
the Akhtala murals and laid the foundations for subsequent research.
Twenty years later a Tbilisi journal published Alexander Eritsov s ar-
ticle The Akhtala monastery which played an important role in the study
of the monument4. Here for the first time the monastery was identified
with Plindzahank, an ancient foundation frequently mentioned by me-
diaeval Armenian writers, thereby making it possible to date the paint-
ings historically. An interesting continuation of this article, so to speak,
is found in the work by Eugeny Takaishvili, where the Georgian inscrip-
tions connected with the Akhtala monastery were published5.
In the 1920s Dmitry Gordeev, a student of Feodor Shmit, embarked
on a study of the Akhtala wall paintings for the Caucasian Institute
of History and Archaeology6. However, his work was suspended at
the very outset and did not reach the stage of
publication. The archives of the Georgian Mu-
seum of Arts contain only a typewritten draft
of the article with a description of the frescoes
in the domed space and the altar apse, which
enables us to reconstruct certain details now
lost7. These archives also contain Gordeevs
rough notes. On one sheet was found a classi-
fication of the stylistic manners of the Akhtala
paintings8. Gordeev divided the paintings into
five groups situated in different parts of the
church: the most austere and archaic paint-
ings in the altar apse; those on the soffits of
the stepped arches; the lower tier of frescoes in
the south arm; the wall-paintings of the west
arm; and those in the upper tier of the south
arm with the upper tiers of the south wall. He