Georgia: By order of the National Agency for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Georgia, the first stage of rehabilitation work of the Monument of National Importance, Sanagiri Virgin Mary Church, in Gurjaani Municipality, has been completed.
Phase 1 of the restoration works included installing tin roof tiles and guttering and painting the upper part of the center nave and the south facade of St. Barbara’s Church. The cement solution used during the earlier restoration period was also removed as part of the rehabilitation.
At this stage, the area of Sanagiri Virgin Mary Church is being cleaned from construction debris.
According to the conclusion of the National Bureau of Forensic Expertise, named after SP Levan Samkharauli, the second stage of work will be planned for next year and will aim to conserve the mural.
For information, in 2022, defects in the covering of the Three Basilica of the Virgin Mary were identified, for which the National Agency for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Georgia financed the research and project-cost documentation of the church in 2023. In the same year, the contract was signed with the winning company, “Ibex,” in the electronic tender. The agency allocated 634 755 GEL for jobs.
Sanagire: Samnaviani Basilica has artistic and architectural value and is one of the Georgian Christian priests’ most exciting and characteristic monuments. The Church of the Mother of God is the main cathedral of the great monastery complex. This is a tenth-century three-sided basilica, on which a three-part gate from the north and a hall church from the south were built in the X-XI and XI-XII centuries. The temple was painted entirely, but only fragments reached us.
Sanagiri Notre Dame Church was granted the status of a Cultural Heritage Monument on March 30, 2006, and the category of National Importance on November 7, 2006.
