The naeklesiari at Samtsevrisi in Bolnisi Municipality lies in the yard of one of the residents of Poladauri village and is now almost entirely buried in earth. Only part of the apse and the outlines of the walls can be made out, and the surviving masonry stands a little over a metre high.
The masonry was set strictly to the horizontal, in even ashlars with rounded corners, the apse was vaulted, and the church itself stood on a high single tier plinth. Sources assign the building to the early Middle Ages.
The most valuable finds from here have already moved to the Bolnisi museum. An early medieval stele that had served as the door architrave was found inside the church: a row of Bolnisi medallions above a Golgotha is carved on two of its sides. A slab with a Bolnisi medallion, a fragment of the same slab and a pilaster capital were found there too, the capital showing an ornate cross and a row of triangles on one side and a donor holding a cross with a kneeling deer on the other.
💡 Tip
- The reliefs from here were handed to the Bolnisi museum
- An early medieval stele served as the door architrave
- The capital shows a donor with a cross and a kneeling deer
🚗 Getting there
- Samtsevrisi village, Bolnisi Municipality, Kvemo Kartli
- The Build Route button will take you to the spot
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