Shemokmedi Monastery
| Shemokmedi Monastery | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Basic information | |
| Location |
 Ozurgeti Municipality, Georgia
|
| Geographic coordinates | 41°54′26″N 42°03′45″E / 41.907222°N 42.062500°ECoordinates: 41°54′26″N 42°03′45″E / 41.907222°N 42.062500°E |
| Affiliation | Georgian Orthodox Church |
| Country | Georgia |
| Architectural description | |
| Architectural type | Monastery, church, castle |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
The Shemokmedi monastery (Georgian: შემოქმედის მონასტერი) is a Georgian Orthodox monastery located at the village of Shemokmedi in Georgia's southwestern region of Guria. Founded in the 15th century, the Shemokmedi monastery functioned as a seat of a bishopric and burial ground of the Gurieli princely dynasty. It was a safe-house of church treasures and, over the centuries, had accumulated an extensive collection of various objects from other Georgian monasteries. Parts of the collection, which survived the 19th-century robbers, are now on display in Georgia's museums.
The Shemokmedi monastery consists of two architecturally simple churches—those of the Redeemer and the Transfiguration otherwise known as Zarzma. The third structure, a bell tower, is built upon the fence of the monastery. This complex is located on a small hill on the left bank of the Bzhuzhi river, overlooking the village of Shemokmedi.
The church of the Redeemer is a three-nave basilica with the dimensions of 10 × 13 m. It is an ashlar structure, lined with bluestone, and with a white marble floor. An ornate curving follows the contour of a window on the western façade. The interior was once entirely frescoed. The surviving fragments depict Mamia II Gurieli (died 1627), Prince of Guria, and his wife Tinatin, with respective identifying inscriptions in Georgian.
The church of the Transfiguration was constructed at the behest of Prince Vakhtang I Gurieli in the late 1570s to house the venerated 9th-century Icon of the Transfiguration of Jesus rescued from the Zarzma Monastery in the Ottoman-occupied Principality of Samtskhe; hence comes the other name of the church, "Zarzma". This church is smaller than that of the Redeemer, with the dimensions of 9 × 7 m. it is a single-nave design crowned with an octagonal dome. The edifice is lined with brick and ashlar. Fragments of Georgian and Greek inscriptions as well as fresco depiction of the first bishop of Shemokmedi, Besarion Machutadze, survive on walls. A bell-tower built upon the church fence was originally constructed in the 16th century and renovated in 1831. All structures of the complex bare traces of multiple reconstructions.
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