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Bagrati Cathedral – a Masterpiece of Georgian Monumental Architecture

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Bagrati Cathedral – a Masterpiece of Georgian Monumental Architecture Bagrati Cathedral – a masterpiece of Georgian monumental architecture, a monument recognized by UNESCO as a piece of World cultural heritage, was built by the end of the X century, during the reign of the first king of united Georgia – Bagrat III. The monument is based on the remnants of facilities preceding the Cathedral; fragments dated by different time are still left till today, they reflect disturbed turbulent flow of epochs and are incorporated in the Cathedral till now. According to the historical sources, the Cathedral kept its original shape for almost seven centuries; it experienced the first serious destruction due to physical influence during the Russian-Turkish war. After this, till the 50-ies of the XX century, the abandoned Cathedral was being destroyed and robbed. The ruins of the Cathedral and fragments scattered about always caused the interest of researchers, there were many attempts to imagine the complete image of the building. The planned research, designed and manufacturing works of scientific protection started under the lead of Vakhtang Tsintsadze and lasted for about half a century. In the year of 1994 the monument that was partly restored, was recognized as a piece of the World cultural heritage. In the year of 1995, on the order of the “Bagrati Cathedral Revival Foundation” the graphic reconstruction design of the Cathedral was completed (I. Gremelashvili – the leader of the team, I. Bandzeladze, E. Makhatelashvili, D. Jintcharadze). In the year of 2003, on order of UNESCO the Concept of scientific protection of Bagrati Cathedral was developed by the multidisciplinary team (leader – I. Gremelashvili). The Concept was developed based on the preliminary research and the main idea of it was the reconstruction of the Cathedral with the light metal precast constructions. From the year of 2005, on the order of the Ministry of Culture, Monument Protection and Sport of Georgia basic research of the Cathedral started, the following was sequentially held: - Archaeological research; - Engineer-geological research; - Architectural-archaeological fixation; - Research of the technical state of the facility; - Research in terms of art criticism Significant damages of walls and foundations were found as a result of the engineer research: - Cracks of walls and foundations due to purposeful damage and seismic influence; - Construction of separate sections of walls without foundations; - Different characteristics of base-grounds; - Wall binding materials damaged due to vegetation and atmospheric events, interstices behind the facing bond; - Low level of reliability of contact binding between contemporary and restored layers of the Cathedral. By the end of 2008 (29.10.08) the United Council of the Ministry of Culture and the Patriarchate reviewed the results of the research and resolved to execute a project of enforcement of the existing bearing structures, considering resources, needed for the complete restoration of the Cathedral. In June of 2009 Design Project of Bagrati Cathedral Restoration was completed. Artistic-stylistic analysis made while working on the Project, understanding of separate architectural and constructional details brought us to the conclusion that the author of Bagrati Cathedral in addition to the knowledge of the centuries-old tradition of Georgian architecture, was well familiar with basic principles of the monumental architecture, knew fine graphical techniques of expression of building body. In addition, since Bagrati Cathedral is a continuation of Tao-Clarjeti architectural school, Khakhuli, Ishkhani and Oshki – monuments that were preserved in their original state were chosen as research objects. The analysis revealed proportional techniques of planning of buildings, the metric system used during designing and construction, these were used for Tao-Clarjeti as well as Bagrati. Together with architectural space organization and clarification of unit of measurement, study of fragments, received after archaeological excavations, gave us possibility to imagine the original shape of the Cathedral – specify almost all key decisions for the to be restored volume. Methodological Council of the Ministry of Culture, Monument Protection and Sport of Georgia (15.07.2009) approved the Design Project of Bagrati Cathedral Complete Restoration with high evaluation. The Project was directed to UNESCO Head Office for review. In September of 2009 part of the society and specialists asked to stop enforcement works on the existing bearing constructions due to the reason that it is inadmissible to use reinforced concrete constructions for enforcement of a monument of cultural heritage. On the request of the Patriarchate of Georgia the Special Commission of the Ministry of Culture defined the list of immediate works and after this the rehabilitation works will be stopped until UNESCO Commission’s conclusion is made. P. S. 1. Need of usage of reinforced concrete for constructional enforcement of cultural heritage is caused by peculiarities and difficulty of the solution of the task. Restoration of York Cathedral in England can be used as an example of similar solution. This is described by one of the key persons in the International Center of restoration and conservation of monuments, former Director General of this organization Bernard M. Feilden in his fundamental work “Conservation of Historic Buildings” (“Conservation of Historic Buildings”, third edition, Bernard M. Feilden – ICCROM, Rome). 2. What about restoration of Bagrati Cathedral as UNESCO monument with its original shape, this solution also is not unfamiliar to the international restoration practice. If there is appropriate approval and if it is important for the dignity, identity and revival of a nation (see “Principles of conservation” – Michael Petzet, ICOMOS 2004). 3. Frauenkirche in Dresden can be used as an example. 4. And finally, the idea of the full rehabilitation of the Cathedral, its restoration with its original shape was shared by our Italian colleagues in 2005 (ICROM experts – Maria Mimo, Gaiane Casnatti). .
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