Doliskana Monastery (Region of Klarjeti)
The monastery of Doliskan (Georg. დოლისყანის მონასტერი, Tur. Doliskana manastırı) – the Georgian Monastery in the historical region of Georgia – Klarjeti (Georg. კლარჯეთი). It is located in the historical village of Doliskana (Georg. დოლისყანა), now Hamamli (Tur. Hamamli), on the territory of modern Turkey. The name Doliskana in Georgian means wheat field (Georg. დოლის პურის ყანა). There is a legend that the Georgian king donated wheat fields to the monastery, hence its name. The main church is the only surviving building of the monastery, which is due to the fact that until recently there was a Muslim Mosque here. There are two different views on whether the church was dedicated to the holy Archangels or to St. Stephen. The murals of the temple of the XI-XIII centuries are almost completely destroyed. It should be noted that in addition to Georgian inscriptions, one fresco of the church has an Arabic inscriptionone – a very rare occurrence in the Georgian church tradition.
There is no exact information about the date of foundation of the monastery complex. Doliskana was not yet a monastery when the locals visited the church as a place of worship for God. According to building inscriptions placed on the facade, the church was built in the X century, which is confirmed by the stylistic analysis of the monument. According to one part of the researchers. the temple was built earlier, and later only rebuilt. It is possible that the foundation of the church was laid in the first half of the X century, and in the second half of the same century it was only rebuilt and turned into a monastic ensemble. The architecture of the church indicates that it was built during the heyday of the art of architecture in Tao-Klarjeti. The architectural elements of a new era appear in it. The facade of the Church is distinguished by the abundance and variety of sculptural reliefs and is covered with stones of different colors. On one of the large stones of the southern facade, a sundial is carved, which was used by the local population until the end of the XX century and which disappeared in 2003, under suspicious circumstances. It should be noted that due to the soil brought during the rains, the initial ground level of the monastery complex increased by 3-4 meters.
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