Sunday, August 30, 2009

The Shrine of St. Marina in Mtiuleti

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view facing south
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The Shrine of St. Marina near the hamlet of Ebralidzeebi, across the Aragvi River from the village of Kvesheti in Mtiuleti, along the Georgian Military Highway.
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view facing west
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The shrine is built atop an old stone tower, which - judging from the ruins which surround it - was once part of a group of quite large buildings.
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the interior
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The shrine contains a holy flag (Georgian: drosha), bells, and drinking-horns and other vessels.
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view facing east
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hands and dots
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On the south face of the tower are hand-prints, pressed into plaster on either side of a group of dots (which might mark the spot where one should touch the tower with one's forehead).
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Here is an old (1975) photograph of the chapel, copied from S. Kurtsikidze & V. Chikovani's amazing Ethnography and Folklore of the Georgia-Chechnya Border (Munich: LINCOM 2008):
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Note: The feast-day of St. Marina (Georgian: marinoba) is on August 12. The shrine is accessible only on foot, having crossed the Aragvi River close to the village of Kvesheti.
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Thursday, August 6, 2009