The ruins of the main hall church of Tsopi village in Marneuli Municipality belong to a large building of about fifteen metres by ten, set on a three tier stylobate. Sources assign the building to the 5th and 6th centuries, the age of the first Georgian stone churches.
The thick walls are laid of rectangular roughly worked limestone of equal size, while the structural parts are drawn in well polished dark brown tuff, and this contrast of materials sets the whole look. The apse is three tiered and fluted, with five bays running along its sides.
Two wide doors under massive architraves are cut in the west and south walls. The interior is divided into three equal parts by two pairs of strongly projecting pilasters, and the hall is further divided into two unequal parts with a passage under an architrave surviving between them. The northern part is the best preserved: three walls, a conch, a semicircular apse and an altar stone survive there.
💡 Tip
- An early church, Dated to the 5th and 6th centuries
- A three tier stylobate under the whole building
- Limestone walls with dark brown tuff for the structural parts
🚗 Getting there
- Tsopi village, Marneuli Municipality, Kvemo Kartli
- The Build Route button will take you to the spot
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