International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Erga Shneurson 
Petach-Tikvq, Israel; 
[e-mail]
Concealing and Revealing Sacredness: 
Architectural Church Façades Sculpture in Georgia. 
The Church of St. John the Baptist in Oshki
Façades decoration of medieval Georgian churches, from the ninth to the twelfth century, 
developed particular architectural forms, consisting of intricate blind niches and arches, 
incorporating specific sculpted Christological motifs, symbols, signs, foliage, and geometric forms. 
This idiosyncratic system of architectural spatial and visual organization had never been studied to 
date in regard to its meaning, function, and performative character. 
In this paper I will suggest that this system developed into a kind of symbolic “veil,” unfolding 
on the churches from top to bottom and from all sides, including the dome, in a manner equivalent 
to the parochet – the veil that covered the entrance to the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle – as 
described in the Book of Exodus. It is my contention that these Georgian architectural ornaments 
cannot be treated as merely decorative elements but, rather, that they were designed to confer upon 
the façades and their surroundings a sense of sacredness, defining them as a holy space, and thereby 
revealing the Divine Presence. 
Focusing on the Church of St. John the Baptist in Oshki (958–966), I address the Neoplatonic 
ideas that were rooted in Georgian Christian philosophy and Pseudo Dionysus the Aeropagite’s mystic 
theology, as embodied in the parochet/veil motif: dematerialization of the church walls; crossing 
physical and mental thresholds; and the relations obtaining between landscape, the church edifice, and 
the liturgical performance. In the contemporary devotional practices, the façades of the Oshki church 
served as a background, a mise en scene, in transforming the viewer’s spatial perception from the 
visible to the invisible, from daily life to a world of holiness in the Divine Presence, playing a significant 
role as a mnemonic device and repository of memory of the spiritual transformation.

---

584