Darbazi (Georgian: დარბაზი; from Persian: darvāze, "gate") is the simplest form of Georgian folk architecture with a long history behind. It is a rustic house, the central feature of which is a pyramidal cupola-shaped, stepped vault (gvirgvini) – made of hewn logs and beams – on pillars, with a central opening at the top which serves as both a window and smoke flue. The Roman authority Vitruvius (1st century BC) includes in his De architectura a description of a Colchian dwelling, the ancient prototype of a Georgian darbazi.[1]
The darbazi house, with local variations, survived into the 20th century. This occurs extensively in the provinces of Kartli, Kakheti and Samtskhe-Javakheti. These houses are often supported at its underground base by finely carved beams and pillars. Of particular care is the solid wooden upright known as the deda-bodzi ("mother-pillar"), which takes the weight of the corbelled roofing.[1] The darbazi design might have also influenced the early Christian architecture of Georgia, for the ancient rotund and octagonal Christian structures - widespread in Italy, Syria and elsewhere - never attained to popularity in Georgia.[2]