Publication of a bilingual illustrated catalog of cultural monuments of Phasiane

4 April 2024

The publishing house of the Caucasus University has published a bilingual (Georgian-English) illustrated catalog of cultural monuments of Phasiane.

 

The co-authors of the work are Professors Teimuraz Khutsishvili and Levan Tsikarishvili of the Tourism School of the Caucasus University.

 

Historical Phasiane has been a contentious territory for millennia, for various empires including Assyria, Urartu, Armenia, Diaoch, as well as Iran, Arabia, Rome, Byzantium, and Turkey. While historically part of Armenia, this region came under Georgian influence in the 10th century before becoming a province of Turkey in the 16th century.

 

In 2019, the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation funded the preparation of a bilingual catalog of the cultural monuments of Phasiane. Research, expedition and scientific works were carried out by the Research Center of Culture and Tourism Resources of Georgia. In 2022-2023, about 200 settlements of Phasiane were studied. The modern state of several dozen cultural monuments known from literature, predominantly mentioned in Turkish literature, have been documented. Additionally, approximately 40 previously unknown monuments, including churches, remnants of various buildings, and rock-cut complexes, have been discovered. The description of the monuments indicates the exact location and general parameters, modern condition. All monuments were photographed. It should be noted here that the leadership of the expedition work and the task of describing the monuments was mainly carried out by Nodar Aronishidze, a scientist-collaborator of the G. Chubinashvili National Research Center for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation.

 

An online version of the catalog is in the works.