Usaneti in Mejvriskhevi

Image copyright © James Blake Wiener, 2017

CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0

Results: 5 records

New Testament - Childhood and youth of Christ - First bath? / Baptism of Christ Child in a font?

Scene Description: on the middle section of the stele

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © James Blake Wiener, 2017

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 3 October 2007 by James Blake Wiener, in Christian Stele from Georgia with Scenes of Christ's Life [https://www.worldhistory.org/image/7364/christian-stele-from-georgia-with-scenes-of-christ/] [accessed 5 July 2023]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0

New Testament - public life of Christ - entry into Jerusalem

Scene Description: on the upper section of the stele: Christ riding on a mount atop; the crowd holding palm branches below

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © James Blake Wiener, 2017

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 3 October 2007 by James Blake Wiener, in Christian Stele from Georgia with Scenes of Christ's Life [https://www.worldhistory.org/image/7364/christian-stele-from-georgia-with-scenes-of-christ/] [accessed 5 July 2023]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0

symbol - cross - pattée

Scene Description: on the lower section of the stele

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © James Blake Wiener, 2017

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 3 October 2007 by James Blake Wiener, in Christian Stele from Georgia with Scenes of Christ's Life [https://www.worldhistory.org/image/7364/christian-stele-from-georgia-with-scenes-of-christ/] [accessed 5 July 2023]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0

view of church exterior in context - ruins

Scene Description: Source caption: "ქართული: უსანეთის ეკლესია" -- the ruins of the old church

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Jaba1977, 2007

Image Source: digital photograph 1 January 2007 by Jaba1977 [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Usaneti_church.jpg] [accessed 6 July 2023]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0

view of object - stele

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © James Blake Wiener, 2017

Image Source: digital photograph 3 October 2007 by James Blake Wiener, in Christian Stele from Georgia with Scenes of Christ's Life [https://www.worldhistory.org/image/7364/christian-stele-from-georgia-with-scenes-of-christ/] [accessed 5 July 2023]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0

INFORMATION

FontID: 24734USA
Museum and Inventory Number: the stele is in the Georgian National Museum / საქართველოს ეროვნული მუზეუმი
Church/Chapel: [medieval church in ruins]
Church Location: [NB: address & coordinates are for the Usaneti church] 3JWV+R8M, Ali, Georgia
Country Name: Georgia
Location: Shida Kartli
Directions to Site: Usaneti is located off (W) the Gomi-Sachlhere-Chiatura-Zestaponi, N of highway E60, just NW of Ali, 17 km from Gori, in the Khashuri municipality, 80-90 km WNW of Tbilisi
Century and Period: 9th - 12th century, Medieval
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Pol Herman for bringing this object to our attention and for his help in documenting it
James Blake Wiener's Christian Stele from Georgia with Scenes of Christ's Life [https://www.worldhistory.org/image/7364/christian-stele-from-georgia-with-scenes-of-christ/] [accessed 5 July 2023]: "A stele or stonecross depicting scenes from the New Testament, including Christ's entry into Jerusalem (top half of stele) and his baptism (lower half of stele). It was created in Usaneti, located in southern Georgia, between 650-800 CE and is made from stone. The composition of the baptism is particularly interesting, as Christ is represented as a youth and is standing in the baptismal font. This is a rare iconographic image for the early Christian period in Georgia (c. 300-750 CE). (Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi)" A communication from Pol Herman (e-mail of 1 October 2022) related to this stele notes: "8th-9th centuries Usaneti Stele from the Khashuri Municipality of Georgia. The artifact contains a relief depicting the Baptism of Christ, where Jesus is represented as a child standing in his baptismal font – a rare iconographic version more typical for the early Christian period." Wiener's photograph of the stele shows one side of the stone, with three levels: at the top, in an area partially damaged, a scene that appears to be the Triumphal Entry of Christ into Jerusalem; the centre of the stele shows a Christ Child, a cruciferous halo on his head, inside what appears to be a baptismal font decorated with a cross on the front side; a star above the Child; on the left is a standing figure with the hand over the Child [NB: the carving of the face suggests the presence of a beard, therefore not Mary]; above is the Holy Ghost symbol, a dove; on the right is a standing angel; on the bottom part of the stele's font side is a large potent cross dotted at the outer angles.

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 42.097088, 43.643202
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 42° 5′ 49.52″ N, 43° 38′ 35.53″ E
UTM: 38T 387803 4661447