Eka Privalova
Vardzia
"...Having substituted Lower—for Upper Vardzia, she (Queen Tamar) began to build a residence for our Blessed Lady of Vardzia who helped her in battles. The church and the cells for monks were cut in the rock and made inaccessible and impregnable for enemies. Her father Giorgi began to build Vardzia, but he left it unfinished; the Great Tamar completed it, embellished and endowed it with vast lands, richly providing for subsistence. It is difficult to account for it all; if someone wants to know more about it, let him go and see Vardzia, the caves cut in the rock and everything that has been done..."
"Kartlis Tskhovreba"
Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns
We shall take advantage of the chronicler's invitation end go to the wonderland, whose name is History. Perhaps here, in this part of Georgia representing its oldest provinces — Samtskhe-Javakheti — it is most tangible. These long abandoned villages, numerous monasteries and temples, churches, caravansaries and fortresses perched on impregnable cliffs along the Mtkvari river (Kura) rim ancient Georgia from the south like a necklace protecting it from the age long invasions of Persians, Arabs, Seljuks, Khorezmians, Mongols, Turks and once again Persians; they are reminiscent of our remote but still vivid past.
In bygone days Samtskhe-Javakheti — this advanced, densely populated and rich part of Georgia—served as a barrier separating the rest of the country from the Moslem world which surrounded this almost single Christian state in this part of the globe from the south and south-west. At the same time, its central situation permitted it to control the borders of Eastern and Western Georgia by keeping an eye on refractory feudal lords whose struggle against the royal power became intensified at the end of the 12 th century. The place often became a theater of military operations, and it was also used for the assembly and review of All-Georgian troops starting for long and victorious campaigns. That is why the "King of Kings of the Orient", Giorgi III, who ruled Georgia in 1156—1184, decided to build there a town-fortress that would complete the chain of castles protecting this land — Akhalkalaki, Khertvisi, Tmogvi, MgeItsikhe, Jakistsikhe. He decided to build it not as an ordinary fortress but as a huge fortified military quarters with a permanent large and ready-to-attack garrison. This is how some researchers explain the appearance of Vardzia and the peculiarities of its lay-out.
A town, which is a miracle of the construction art, began to grow on the left bank of the Mtkvari, 30 km. above the modern district centre Aspindza, 13 km. from Khertvisi, in the middle tufa-breccia layer of an impregnable 100 m high cliff*
In building the "town", located near the earlier cave complexes (for example, the ancient village of Chachkari), the craftsmen used the well-known techniques, Georgia knows many such constructions cut in the rock: the ancient town of
Uplistsikhe, the cave monasteries of David-G areji and Shio Mgvime, the monastery of Vanis-Kvabebi situated not far from Vardzia, Margastani and many others. However, the Vardzia complex is the most perfect, well-conceived and intricate. Studies have shown that the craftsmen brilliantly executed the plan.
Giorgi III did not succeed in completing the building of Vardzia. The construction was brought to an end by his daughter Tamar; however, not as a military town, as had been designed, but as a huge fortified monastery (Incidentally, this reflects in some way the victory of feudal lords over the royal power). Nevertheless, it was just there that she reviewed her troops starting for the battle against the Rum sultan Rukn ud-Hin in about 1205 (the famous Basiani battle), and then in 1210—1211 for the campaign against Iran. Here she met the victorious warriors and gave thanks and glorified Our Lady of Vardzia.
During the reign of Tamar the importance of Vardzia considerably increased, it achieved great prosperity that amazed the contemporaries. Historians tell us about the Queen's rich contributions to the monastery and the luxury of its caves. The magnificence and glory of the monastery were such, that three and a half centuries later shah-Tamaz went in person to the famous cloister during his third invasion of Georgia in 1551. This is how Parsadan Georgijanidze recalls this episode in his "History": "Shah-Tamaz ascended the fortress, as he had heard much praise about this church, but what he saw surpassed all he had heard". Perhaps that was why the punitive measures inflicted upon Vardzia were especially cruel. After the Persian invasion the cloister practically ceased to exist.
At Present the Vardzia cave complex, extending for more than 500 m in the middle part of the cliff, consists of about 600 rooms cut in the rock and located in five, six, seven and sometimes twelve tiers.
As a point of reference one can use two buildings in hewn stones, which appeared here at the end of the 12 th century after an earthquake which had greatly damaged the western part of the cloister. This is a bell-tower (its first tier with an archway has survived) and a little to the east — a two-arch wall of the main church portico.
In the western part of the complex, i. e. to the left of the bell-tower the small Ananauri church, located on the site of the ancient village, has survived in the upper tier;
in the lowest tier there is a stable. Close to the chapel there is a group of caves with a "Litaniis ecclesia" chapel. Older caves are situated below the bell-tower, near the ravine. Below the bell-tower there is a hall with a wine-press (Satsnakheli). A particular interest attaches to the refectory situated in the central part of the complex, i. e. to the right of the bell-tower, between the tower and the church portico* In the eastern part of the complex is the main church with a portico, a refuge with a secret passage, a spring, an assembly hall, the so-called Sadarbazo, Queen Tamar's room, the so-called Salkhino or feast hall, a supposed chemist's shop, most of the wine-cellars (marani). From the eastern suburb of the complex a large secret passage leads to the river bank.
We are accustomed to the present aspect of Vardzia with its collapsed facade. Originally a kind of covered street-gallery ran parallel to the precipice along each storey, linking the porticoes. Behind each portico there was a large dwelling place: a hall, followed by a small cave serving as a store-room. Thus each dwelling cell consisted of three adjacent rooms following one another from south to north on the same line (this helped to keep the place cool in summer and warm in winter). The storeys were connected by secret passages and holes made in the ceilings of the porticoes with wooden ladders attached to them.
Some unfinished caves give us a chance to see how work was organized to cut out the chambers in the rock. The chamber for a hall was hewn beginning from the doorway straight into the rock and then enlarged sidewards to the dimensions wanted. Then the hewers started to cut out a storeroom while the architectural work first in the portico and then the hall was still in progress. The chambers of the storeroom were not trimmed; small ditches and holes for buskets (go-dori), jars, etc. were dug along the walls. Such an organization of the work permitted to employ a large number of workers and accelerate the completion of the construction.
The interior of the hall is simple in most cases: the surface of the walls is smooth, the ceiling is flat, domed or sometimes vaulted, in the centre or on one side of the walls there are windows and doorways leading to the portico and to the store-room; several niches for icons, utensils and lamps; large niches were used as bedrooms; often with-a hearth in the corner, in the porticoes there are recesses for baking bread (tone). Some dwelling caves are roughly made, others possess a fine finish attesting to an architectural taste. In different places of the cave complex there are dwelling places markedly differing from others by their larger dimensions, clear-cut shape and additional large niches. Around these residences and cut in the rock chapels there are ordinary, simple dwellings — an evidence of class differentiation of feudal society.
Some constructions of the complex are of particular interest. For example, a stable which has the form of a rectangular hall with two columns in the middle. The elevated part between the columns has two mangers for corn at both side-and in the middle a manger for grass and hay. The central pass sage was left for the stable-men. Horses stood on both sides of the mangers, one row facing the other. This type of the stable is still considered by specialists as the most rational.
The so-called Salkhino hall with an adjoining wine-cellar was intended for feasts. There was also another large wine-cellar (marani) with thirteen buried jars. All in all there were 28 wine-cellars in Vardzia: 6 in the halls and 22 in the store-rooms with 235 jars capable of containing 90 973 litters. Some wine-presses (satsnakheli) have survived, for example, the one cut out in the wall of a large western cave (but it is probably a more recent one) as well as many winecellars. In a large fragment of the rock can see a small room intended for pressing the grapes and some special sakadjavi presses. The existence of wine-presses and wine cellars indicates that viticulture and wine-making played an important role in Vardzian life, especially in the 15 th century.
The assembly hall (sadarbazo) with benches along the walls was not intended for living in. ^he resonance in the hall is so good that there is no need for one to raise his voice when speaking.
The so-called "Tamar's room" is to the west of the sadarbazo; but according to a legend Queen Tamar had 366 rooms in Vardzia so that enemies could not find out where her bedroom was.
In the refectory there were tables and benches placed along the side walls, a special apse and altar in the eastern wall.
The supposed "chemist's shop" is a room with small niches covering the walls; though it is not definitely known what this room served for.
The spring is situated deep in the mountain not far from the main church. Its reservoir contains about 8 m8 (i. e. up to 200 buckets) of fresh cold water (its constant temperature is 11°). However, to supply the town with spring water, there was built a special water-supply situated 3.5 km. to the west, near Zeda Vardzia (a two-nave church built by Liparit, the Kldekari military governor at the end of the 10 th and the beginning of the 11 th century can still be seen there). The system of water pipes is laid out along a highly intersected country and one-third of it is hidden in tunnels piercing the rock. Pottery pipes are laid in special trenches. At the open sections of the route there are pottery jar-like control wells. The water supply provided 166 000 litters per day, that was enough to supply the town of 50 000 people with water. A tank containing 630 000 litters was cut in the rock in the western part of the complex to store water.
Of special interest is a strongly fortified system of communication lines with secret passages and tunnels, with steps and locks of different structure, connecting a number of caves which served as hiding-places and refuges. One of these passages beginning north from the church is connected with a refuge guarded by a special sentinel post and protected by two stone walls. Another passage, 227 m long, is situated in the eastern most part of the complex; it begins from the second tier and winds its way to the bank of the Mtkvari. The dwelling places cut in almost sheer rock had special fortified entrances and defense constructions which made the complex actually inaccessible and impregnable to the enemies. Three hundred years later the historian Hassan Rumlu, who traveled together with Shah-Tamaz, compared the half ruined by an earthquake Vardzia with the wall of Iskander and the Khyber tower, i. e. with the Walls of Alexandria in Egypt and the fortified Khyber pass in Afghanistan, considered to be impregnable fortresses.
Out of the 15 Vardzian churches it is only the Litany church that has preserved fragments of painting on the tympanum of the entrance. Another 16 th century painting, though much damaged, can also be seen in the small Ananauri church. Despite the faces having been barbarically scraped off, the wonderful colouring and a well-preserved design give ground to speak of the high quality of this painting. so characteristic of the time. In the narthex as well as in the main building of the church there are images of an unknown churchwarden, "Deesis", "The Archangels' Cathedral" and some scenes from the Gospels: "The Annunciation", "The Baptism", "The Transfiguration", "The Resurrection of Lazarus", "The Entry into Jerusalem", "The Crucifixion", "The Descent into Hell", "The Ascension", "The Descent of the Holy Ghost", " The Dormition". However, Vardzia is best known not for this but for the paintings of the main church, dedicated to the "Dormition of the Virgin". Its actual founder is considered to be Queen Tamar whose portrait is depicted together with her father Giorgi III on the northern side of the wall. Still almost a girl, she is depicted holding a model of the church in her hands. The absence of necklace and the under-the-chin band indicates that Tamar was not yet married. The inscription under the portrait wishing her a long life proves that Giorgi III was already dead by this time. This makes it possible to establish the fact that the painting was done in 1184—1185.
Besides the portraits, there is one more image of a churchwarden. According to the inscription that is now effaced, it was Rati Surameli, a military governor (eristavi) of Kartli, who "took pains to decorate the church with paintings..."
The foundation of the church, the spiritual and compositional centre of the ensemble, was laid at the site of the old group of caves. At the southern side it has a narrow high portico with two archways facing the canyon; a one-time tiled burial vault stands at the northern side of the complex.
The church presents a slightly elongated rectangle in shape with a wide and high apse. Its length, including the apse, is 14.5 m, width 8.25 m, height 9.25 m; not very deep arch niches run along the walls, a couple of pillars and a stilted arch divide the main hall into two parts. On the southern side there are large arch windows. On the northern side the windows are small, they serve to light up the interior of the building. Three doors connect the church with the chapels.
The paintings covering the vault and the walls of the large hall and the southern narthex include portraits of the churchwardens and the image of the Virgin Hodigitria placed between two archangels at the top of the altar apse; a row of prelates with scrolls can be seen in the first tier of the apse; the "Twelve Church Feasts painted" on the walls and vaults of the nave ("The Annunciation", "The Nativity", "The Presentation of Christ", "The Baptism", "The Transfiguration," "The Resurrection of Lazarus", "The Entry into Jerusalem", "The Last Supper", "The Washing of the Feet", "The Crucifixion", "The Descent into Hell", "The Ascension", "The Descent of the Holy Ghost" and "The Dormition of the Virgin"); a large composition of the "Last Judgment" and two scenes from the life of St. Stephen are preserved in the narthex. "The Ascension of the Cross" is painted in the vault, and the image of "Deesis" in the conch.
By their style, the Vardzian paintings belong to the group of paintings which have in common the portraits of Queen Tamar (Betania, Qintsvisi, Bertubani and Timotesubani, Ozaani and Akhtala (first layer). The time coincides with the 2 nd stage of the development of the Georgian monumental painting which, as compared with the preceding period (12 th — first half of the 13 th century), is marked by a gradual change towards a greater decorativeness and dynamism of the composition and the design.
Thus, in the paintings, remaining on the whole monumental, the scenes became more detailed, images more lively, movements more vivid. Yet the colour range remains typically Georgian, austere and refined, the highlight modeling of the forms is reserved and soft, and the manner of painting is linear.
What a beautiful, colourful sight this painting presents against its unique carpet-like background How well composed ii looks taken as a whole, and what a picturesque solution of each scene taken apart. Each fragment within itself is so well worked out that every detail lives.
Vardzian painting strikes one with its entirety and completeness. This is to a great extent due to the great talent of the leading painter Giorgi, whose name has survived in the conch. However, one can very well distinguish the characteristic features of the manner of painting of each artist who participated in the creation of the painting. It can be observed that there were five artists and their assistants. The distinct manner of their painting allows to trace the whole system of their work: the apse was painted by the main master, the author of the whole ensemble, the rest of the church was divided into tiers each done by a separate artist.
Without giving a detailed characteristic of each artist, it should be stressed, however, that Vardzia presents an admirable combination of what seems to be opposite techniques and interpretations. Along with high decorativeness and refinement both in colour and design in which the theme is conveyed chiefly by an outline — all the figures are delineated with rich, strong, long brush strokes, which makes them look graceful and somewhat affected ("The Ascension of the Cross"), we also meet a different modeling of figures, they are executed slight in and translucent highlights; their faces bear a stamp of peculiar expressiveness and depth of feeling ("The Dormition of the Virgin"). Yet, the most decisive factors in determining the place and the role of Vardzian painting are, firstly, the well-preserved faces of the prelates and the Virgin in the conch, marked by rich saturation of brushwork and inner expressiveness of the images. Secondly, the most perfect figures of the painting are Giorgi III and Tamar. Though here, as always when depicting concrete faces, the artist departs from the conventional technique of "highlighting" and "overshading", thus the specifically Georgian linear manner of painting and local colouring become more prominent; we see an amazingly unique and incredibly delicate modeling of the forms. Therefore we can conclude that the Vardzian painting belongs to the most perfect pieces of art.
For about four centuries Vardzia lay in desolation. Systematic, well planned work for the cleaning and restoration of the ancient monastery began only in 1938, after the organization of the Vardzian Museum. The work has not yet been completed. A more detailed measurement of the caves, photo and film fixation of the paintings and; their copying are under way. And interest in this famous town-monastery, which has begun a new intense life, is growing daily.