page_title: Mosaic
section_title: Orthodox countries
hierarchical_section_title: Mosaic / History / Christian mosaics / Orthodox countries
caption_attribution_description: English: Gelati Mother of God Church (Georgia). An altar conch mosaic. 1125-1130. "The Glory of the Theotokos". The Virgin surrounded by the Archangels Michael and Gabriel.
context_page_description: The traditional definition of a mosaic is a coherent pattern or image in which each component element is built up from small regular or irregular pieces of substances such as stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, entirely or predominantly covering a plane or curved surface, even a three dimensional shape, and normally integrated with its architectural context.
  Mosaics were traditionally used as decoration for floors and walls becoming very popular across the Ancient Roman World.
  In modern times mosaic has come to be defined as any pattern or image made from many multiple pieces. Mosaic can be found in a range of forms from traditional murals and pavements, to contemporary artworks, hobby craft items and industrial and construction forms.
  Mosaics have a long history, starting in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC. Pebble mosaics were made in Tiryns in Mycenean Greece; mosaics with patterns and pictures became widespread in classical times, both in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Early Christian basilicas from the 4th century onwards were decorated with wall and ceiling mosaics.
context_section_description: The craft has also been popular in early medieval Rus, inherited as part of the Byzantine tradition. Yaroslav, the Grand Prince of the Kievan Rus' built a large cathedral in his capital, Kiev. The model of the church was the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, and it was also called Saint Sophia Cathedral. It was built mainly by Byzantine master craftsmen, sent by Constantine Monomachos, between 1037 and 1046. Naturally the more important surfaces in the interior were decorated with golden mosaics. In the dome we can see the traditional stern Pantokrator supported by angels. Between the 12 windows of the drum were apostles and the four evangelists on the pendentives. The apse is dominated by an orant Theotokos with a Deesis in three medallions above. Below is a Communion of the Apostles.
  Prince Sviatopolk II built St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kiev in 1108. The mosaics of the church are undoubtedly works of Byzantine artists. Although the church was destroyed by Soviet authorities, majority of the panels were preserved. Small parts of ornamental mosaic decoration from the 12th century survived in the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod but this church was largely decorated with frescoes.
  Using mosaics and frescoes in the same building was a unique practice in Ukraine. Harmony was achieved by using the same dominant colors in mosaic and fresco. Both Saint Sophia Cathedral and Saint Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kiev use this technique. Mosaics stopped being used for church decoration as early as the 12th century in the eastern Slavic countries. Later Russian churches were decorated with frescoes, similarly then orthodox churches in the Balkan.
  The apse mosaic of the Gelati Monastery is a rare example of mosaic use in Georgia. Began by king David IV and completed by his son Demetrius I of Georgia, the fragmentary panel depicts Theotokos flanked by two archangels. The use of mosaic in Gelati attests to some Byzantine influence in the country and was a demonstration of the imperial ambition of the Bagrationids. The mosaic covered church could compete in magnificence with the churches of Constantinople. Gelati is one of few mosaic creations which survived in Georgia but fragments prove that the early churches of Pitsunda and Tsromi were also decorated with mosaic as well as other, lesser known sites. The destroyed 6th century mosaic floors in the Pitsunda Cathedral have been inspired by Roman prototypes. In Tsromi the tesserae are still visible on the walls of the 7th-century church but only faint lines hint at the original scheme. Its central figure was Christ standing and displaying a scroll with Georgian text.
caption: Apse mosaic "Glory of the Theotokos" in Gelati, Georgia. c. 1125–1130.
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