Out of the Rubble: Etseri, Svaneti
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If there was a local architectural restoration project which I would like to see carried out, it would be this one. I suppose that it would need quite a bit of money, quite some attention, which based on observation has been somewhat lacking in Svaneti since Misha’s departure. (Yes, they’re continuing what he started, extending the road renovation upward from Mestia towards Ushguli; ditto the work on the spectacular new Tetnuldi ski resort. But road repairs? Only where dire; merely “hugely inconvenient” isn’t enough, apparently.)
A few days ago, I visited a neighbor in our village for her 79th birthday, and after that joyous event another neighbor took me to see the remains of the closest local church, which might also be one of the oldest in all Svaneti, although again architectural expertise alone could shed some light on this. What I remember seeing on past occasions was far smaller than what has now been unearthed, by four men over about 10 days’ work.
It had literally been a chapel in which you could touch both side walls simultaneously by stretching out your arms. And the walls were lower than head-height, anyway, with no roof. But its setting in the forest, with nave looking to the east as is traditional here, was splendidly natural. The open skies above also reminded me of Kutaisi’s Bagrati Cathedral, similarly roofless for three centuries since the tender attentions of the Ottomans, and to my mind a wonderful metaphor for a direct connection to heaven. But thus unprotected, especially in the harsher climate of Svaneti with freeze and thaw alternating, no stone structure should be expected to survive for long without being blasted apart bit by bit under the onslaught. So, a roof it should have.
The recent work had uncovered a considerably larger structure around the walls which I had known, along with many stone blocks from the original church scattered around, and… an ossuary containing bones at the west end, which the workers re-covered out of reverence and to preserve the remains for more expert analysis. My friend told me that architect-specialists should be able to restore the building to its former glory, each stone in its original place. Also, that without some sort of covering for the winter, weather’s relentless effects would undo or further harm the recently uncovered walls. So there is some urgency here.
The actual rebuilding can wait, as long as what is there is shielded from more damage. I do remember from about 2001 that, according to my carefully dated photographic records, extensive restoration was carried out on the village’s main church, the Archangels’ Church in Pkhotreri, said to be dated from Queen Tamar’s tour of Svaneti. Although Etseri does have seven or eight other churches, this little one overlooking Ladreri hamlet is said to be the oldest. Even the splendid carved wooden door of Pkhotreri Church, perfectly copied in a modern version in Mestia museum, apparently comes from this small church, perhaps 15 centuries ago.
If there are doubts or questions about age and so on, they deserve to be answered as conclusively as possible. With enough hands, a single spring-to-autumn season might be enough to complete the restoration and return the fame, and spiritual usefulness, of this wonderful chapel, which would make it the main place of worship for Ladreri, a sorely needed thing in the absence of other such. As Georgia goes to vote, a patron to accomplish what I am describing may be the furthest thing from people’s minds; I, too, would not call it something of the first importance. But surely not the last thing on the to-do list, either, in this little country so packed full of archeological remains awaiting their turn.
Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with over 1900 members, at www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/
He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri:
www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti
By Tony Hanmer