Bichvinta mosaic

A floor mosaic from Bichvinta.

The Bichvinta mosaic is a 5th or 6th-century floor mosaic from the ruined early Christian church at a cape in the coastal town of Bichvinta or Pitsunda, anciently known as Pityus, in Abkhazia/Georgia. It depicts symbolic animals, birds, and plants.

History

The mosaic was discovered, in 1952, in a ruined 4th-century Byzantine three-nave basilica. Fragments of the mosaic pavements were preserved in the apse, the spacious narthex, and baptistery.[1] The surviving fragments were removed, restored, and laid on display at the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi.[2]

The Pityus mosaic seems to have been inspired by the earlier Roman prototypes[3] and reveals close stylistic affinities with Syro-Palestinian mosaics.[1] The closest regional counterpart is the near-contemporaneous mosaic of the Tsromi Church in eastern Georgia.[4][3]

Description

The mosaic is made of rectangular pieces of local colored stone, with cleanly trimmed brick lime solution. The background is orange. A stylized Greek inscription mentions the donor, Oreli. The central piece of the apse mosaic is a large Christogram, with Alpha and Omega, flanked and framed by interwoven Acanthus foliage. To the left of the monogram there is a depiction of a blossoming plant twig with plants and birds. The composition is embellished with various geometric ornamentation.[5] The narthex mosaic contains several small areas depicting fishes and birds. The entrance was embellished with the image of a fountain with birds on either side. Other fragments depict stags and deer.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 Djobadze, Wachtang. "Bitshvinta". In Strayer, Joseph Reese. Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Volume 2. Scribner. p. 253. ISBN 0684170221.
  2. ↑ Todua, TI (1975). "Removal and restoration of the Bichvinta mosaic". ICOM Committee for Conservation. 4th Triennial Meeting, Venice, 13-18 October 1975. Paris: ICOM.
  3. 1 2 Talbot Rice, Tamara (1965). Ancient arts of Central Asia. Thames and Hudson. p. 248.
  4. ↑ Eastmond, Antony (1998). Royal Imagery in Medieval Georgia. Penn State Press. p. 61. ISBN 0-271-01628-0.
  5. 1 2 Gelenava, Irakli, ed. (2015). Cultural Heritage in Abkhazia (PDF). Tbilisi: Meridiani. pp. 28–29.
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