page_title: Dmanisi Sioni cathedral
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Dmanisi Sioni cathedral / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: ქართული: დმანისის ნაქალაქარიდმანისის სიონი, პატარა დმანისის წმინდა მარინეს ეკლესია, სამრეკლო, გალავანი, აბანო და სხვა ნაგებობანი. This is a photo of a monument in Georgia identified by the ID 1646
context_page_description: The Dmanisi cathedral of the Theotokos, commonly known as the Dmanisi Sioni church is an early medieval basilica located in the heart of the Dmanisi historic site, a ruined medieval town in Georgia's southern Kvemo Kartli region, perched on a promontory at the confluence of the Mashavera and Pinezauri rivers. The church has a three-bay nave, a prominently protruding apse, and a richly adorned narthex added in the early 13th century. The Sioni church is a functioning Georgian Orthodox church, renovated in 2009, and protected by the state as an Immovable Cultural Monument of National Significance.
context_section_description: The church has been described, following the definition by Chubinashvili, as a "three-church" basilica, that is, a peculiar Georgian design in which the nave is completely separated from the aisles with solid walls, in order to create what are almost three independent churches. Arjevanidze identifies the building as a hall church with a mono-pitched roof. 
  The church, without later additions and narthex, measures 23 × 11.5 m. It is build of lines of small grayish stones, sometimes regularly hewn blocks, and is roofed with flat stone tiles. As the building has been reconstructed in the course of history, only the middle nave retains its original architectural form. It terminates in a protruding semicircular apse on the east and exaggerated engaged pilasters in the interior of the building create arched bays in between. The inner walls were once fully frescoed; the badly damaged 13th–14th-century depictions of the Mandylion, saints and inscriptions survive in the altar apse; fragments of a royal portrait and two scenes of the Doomsday are visible in the northeastern and northwester pilasters, respectively. A small flagstone in the south wall of the altar bears a carving in relief, depicting two laymen standing en face, with a pedestalled cross in between them. Two side annexes, on the south and north, respectively, are 9th–10th-century structures, containing a sacristy and prothesis, both with apses. 
  Sometime between 1213 and 1222, in the reign of George IV of Georgia, a narthex was added on the western end of the basilica. The narthex is richly adorned with ornamental stone-carvings in relief and covered with a vault, supported by four pillars and arches; its all three facades, columns, and arches are faced with light green smoothly hewn stone slabs. To the north of the church stands a rectangular bell-tower, remodeled several times. Farther, to the northeast, there is small single-nave church of Saint Marina, rebuilt in 1702 by Isakhar, a caregiver for Princess Mariam of Kartli.               
  The narthex bears three inscriptions in the medieval Georgian asomtavruli script. One, on the western facade, makes mention of King George IV and Bishop Theodosius, a ktetor. Another, also on the western facade, mentions George IV's son David VII and relates that the bishop of Dmanisi abolished a local law that required a payment for the wedding rite. The third inscription, in the inner southeastern column, commemorates the certain Apridon, who had donated 30 drahms to the construction.
caption: Dmanisi Sioni. A prominently protruding apse on the east.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX S3000", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX S3000V1.1", "Image DateTime": "2017:07:27 14:30:18", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "234", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "58240", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3094", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:07:27 14:30:18", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:07:27 14:30:18", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-3/10", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "49/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3000", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "58116", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "27", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}