Kintsvisi Monastery
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Kintsvisi Monastery (Georgian: ყინწვისი, Qinc'visi) is a Georgian Orthodox monastery in the Shida Kartli region, eastern Georgia, 10 km from the town Kareli, on a forested slope of a high mountain of the Dzama valley.
The monastery is actually a complex of three churches, a bell-tower and ruins of several buildings and structures. The main church - St Nicholas Monastery - dates back to the 12th-13th centuries, i.e. what is generally regarded as a "golden age" of the Georgian monarchy. It is a large cross-dome brick building which houses a unique examples of medieval mural art from the early 13th century. The mural was ordered by Anton Gnolistavisdze, the grand vizier, minister, who, apparently, was a churchwarden too. His fresco with a model of a church in his hand is represented on the lower register of the south wall. Opposite to it, on the north wall, three monarchs of the Georgian renaissance - Giorgi III, Tamar and Giorgi IV Lasha - are depicted. Particularly remarkable is the figure of the sitting angel (so-called Kintsvisi Archangel) from the Resurrection composition pointing at the open sarcophagus in a gracious manner, represented above the kings' figures, between two windows. The mural of the narthex is performed by the order of a prominent person of the 15th century Zaza Panaskerteli, whose portrait is represented here as well.
