The church of the Dormition is built in the darbazuli, or hall type: a single rectangular hall with no dome and no side aisles. This is the commonest form of the Georgian village church, and it makes a rural building easy to recognise.
The church is left from the vanished village of Shuasopeli and stands near Bareti, north-east of Tsalka. Bareti is the richest of the local villages in shrines: it has churches of Peter and Paul, of the Holy Cross and of the Forty Martyrs, chapels of St Barbara and St Demetre, and two kilometres away the chapel of St Sabbas by an ancient settlement site.
There are no regular services here and the church is freely approached. Inside the walls are bare, and in winter the snow lingers by the entrance for a long time.
📜 Of interest
- A darbazuli hall church of the Dormition
- Shuasopeli, an abandoned village near large Bareti
- The St Sabbas chapel two kilometres away
🚗 Getting there
- Landmark - Bareti village, Tsalka Municipality; about eight kilometres to Tsalka
- The navigator opens with the Build Route button
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