Lanchvali Church

The ancient architectural monuments of Svaneti Region stand in harmony with the region’s impressive wilderness, which makes Svaneti an especially lovely corner of the country. It is in this region, in the ancestral district of the Margianis in Mestia townlet, that you find a small church, a monument to the late Middle Ages, that locals call Margianal-Taringzeli.

Region

Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti

City

Mestia

Lanchvali Church and Its Peculiarities

Despite its small size, this church, which is named after the Archangel, mattered to the local community a lot.

The church is encircled by a stone wall and there are graves in its yard. It is a hall-type structure with a rectangular plan and has retained much of its original form. In recent years the church has undergone reconstruction.

Lanchvali Church was constructed using local stones and lime mortar, with small windows in its eastern and southern façades. The decoration on the façades is extremely sparse. There is only the depiction of an equal-armed cross in relief on the southern façade.

Lanchvali Church used to function as a museum as well. A large number of artistic smithing works were kept here, including an icon of the Savior enthroned, which dates back to the 11th century. This piece and others like it are now in the Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography.

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