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{{short description|Georgian Orthodox cathedral and monastery in Adjara, Georgia}}
{{Infobox religious building
| building_name         = Skhalta Cathedral <br/> სხალთა
| infobox_width         =
| image                 = Skhalta cathedral-1.jpg
| image_size            = 275 px
| alt                   =
| caption               = Skhalta Cathedral
| map_type            = Georgia Adjara#Georgia
| map_alt             = <!-- Alternative text for map image, see WP:ALT for details -->
| map_caption         = <!-- Text to be displayed below map; for no caption enter "map_caption="; if the parameter is omitted then the caption will be "Marker text (location map name)" -->
| map_relief            = yes
| location              = [[Q'inchauri]], [[Khulo District]], {{flag|Georgia}} ({{flag|Adjara}})
| coordinates           = {{coord|41.584967|42.329708|display=inline,title}}
| religious_affiliation = [[Georgian Orthodox Church]]
| rite                  =
| region                = [[Caucasus]]
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| district              = [[Khulo District]]
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| functional_status     = Active since 1990
| heritage_designation  = 
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| architecture          = yes
| architect             =
| architecture_type     = Large [[hall church|hall]] [[basilica]] plan; [[Monastery]]
| architecture_style    = [[Architecture of Georgia (country)|Georgian]]
| founded_by            = 
| funded_by             = Possibly Queen Tamar of Georgia
| general_contractor    =
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| groundbreaking        =
| year_completed        = Mid-13th century
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The '''Skhalta Cathedral''' ({{lang-ka|სხალთა}}, {{IPA|ka|sχɑltʰɑ|}}) is a [[Georgian Orthodox]] monastery and [[cathedral]] church in [[Adjara]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], dating from the mid-13th century. It is a large [[hall church]] design, with fragments of the 14th or 15th century [[Byzantine art#Palaeologan age|Paleologian]]-style wall painting.<ref name="hga">{{in lang|ka}} Abramishvili, G., Zakaraia, P., & Tsitsishvili, I (2000), ქართული ხუროთმოძღვრების ისტორია (''History of Georgian Architecture''), pp. 170-171. [[Tbilisi State University]] Press, {{ISBN|99928-56-52-1}}.</ref> 

Skhalta is the only medieval church in Adjara that survived both the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] and [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] periods<ref name="Pelkmans">Pelkmans, Mathijs (2006), ''Defending the Border: Identity, Religion and Modernity in the Republic of Georgia'', p. 142. New York: [[Cornell University Press]], {{ISBN|0-8014-4440-3}}.</ref> to become functional again in 1990. It currently serves as a seat of the Georgian Orthodox bishop of Skhalta.<ref name="dzeglebi">{{in lang|ka}} [http://www.dzeglebi.ge/dzeglebi/s/sxalta.html სხალთა ("Skhalta")]. dzeglebi.ge. Accessed February 19, 2012.</ref>

==History== 
The Skhalta monastery is located on a hill in the eponymous river valley, at the village of [[Q'inchauri]], [[Khulo District|Khulo municipality]], along a road, which, in the Middle Ages, strategically linked Adjara with Artani (modern [[Ardahan]], [[Turkey]]). The written sources on Skhalta are scarce. A legend attributes the construction of the church to [[Tamar of Georgia|Queen Tamar]] ([[reign|r.]] 1184–1213), who presided over the [[Georgian Golden Age|Golden Age of medieval Georgia]]. Modern studies date the church to the middle of the 13th century. At that time, the Skhalta valley was in possession of the noble family of [[Abuserisdze]].<ref name="dzeglebi"/> 

After the Ottoman conquest of the region in the 16th century, the church was abandoned. The monastery was rediscovered and sketched by [[Giorgi Kazbegi]], the Georgian officer in the Russian service, who was in Ottoman Georgia on a reconnaissance mission in 1874. After Adjara passed in the Russian hands in 1878, Skhalta—then lying in the estate of the [[Adjarians|Muslim Georgian]] chief [[Sherip Khimshiashvili|Sherif-Bey]]—was visited and described by the students of [[Caucasus|Caucasian]] antiquities such as [[Dimitri Bakradze]] and Countess [[Praskovya Uvarova]]. Bakradze cites a document from the period of King [[Alexander I of Georgia]] (r. 1412–1442), according to which Skhalta belonged to the patriarchal see of [[Mtskheta]].<ref name="Uvarova">{{in lang|ru}} Uvarova, Praskovya (1891). Кавказъ. Абхазія, Аджарія, Шавшетія, Посховскій участок. Путевыя замѣтки графини Уваровой, ч. II (''Caucasus: Abkhazia, Adjara, Shavsheti, Potskhovi circuit.Itineraries of Countess Uvarova, part II''). Moscow, pp. 231-234, 243-244.</ref> 

The revival of religious activity and rising influence of the Georgian Orthodox Church in the closing years of the Soviet Union led to the restoration of the Skhalta church to Christian use. In June 1989, [[Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia|Catholicos-Patriarch]] [[Ilia II of Georgia]] paid a visit to Skhalta and held a requiem for those who had died in landslides and floods earlier that year.<ref name="Pelkmans"/> In 1990, Skhalta was consecrated as a male monastery of the [[Nativity of Mary]].<ref name="dzeglebi"/>

==Architecture== 
[[File:Skhalta fresco (6).jpg|thumb|A fresco from Skhalta]]
The Skhalta monastery is a large hall church, with a protruding, seven-faceted [[apse]], two principal portals on the south and on the west and an additional door on the north. It is built of gray-white stone. A spacious interior hall is crowned with arches and a cylindrical vault, resting on prominent pilasters. The side walls of the hall are decorated with arches. The [[semi-dome|conch]] of the apse and the vault are separated from the lower vertical walls with simple cornices.<ref name="hga"/> 

The interior walls are faced with hewn blocks of white stone, which had formerly been extensively frescoed. Small fragments of the original paintings of the [[New Testament]] scenes—examplifying the Paleologian art of the 14th or 15th century—were uncovered by the Georgian expedition in 1997. The façades are also covered with hewn blocks and the windows are ornated. Some of the ruined structures to the west and south are later additions.<ref name="hga"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Commonscat|Skhalta cathedral}}
{{Georgian Churches}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Adjara]]
[[Category:Georgian Orthodox cathedrals in Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 13th century]]
[[Category:Georgian Orthodox monasteries]]
[[Category:Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance of Georgia]]