Katskhi pillar

Katskhi Pillar
კაცხის სვეტი
Katskhi Pillar ; კაცხის სვეტი
	Katskhi Pillar
Religion
Affiliation	Georgian Orthodox Church
District	Argveti District (historic) ; Chiatura District (present)
Region	Caucasus
Leadership	The monk Maxim
Status	Abandoned (partially active since 1995), restored and rebuilt
Location
Location	Katskhi, 5 km from the town of Chiatura, Chiatura District, Imereti Province (Mkhare), Georgia
	Shown within Georgia
Geographic coordinates	42°17′15″N 43°12′56″E / 42.2875°N 43.2156°E
Architecture
Type	Small church atop a stone pillar
Style	Georgian; Hermitage and Monastery
Completed	9th or 10th century

The Katskhi pillar (Georgian: კაცხის სვეტი, kac'xis svet'i) is a natural limestone monolith located at the village of Katskhi in western Georgian region of Imereti, near the town of Chiatura. It is approximately 40 metres (130 ft) high, and overlooks the small river valley of Katskhura, a right affluent of the Q'virila.^[1]

The rock, with visible church ruins on a top surface measuring c. 150 m², has been venerated by locals as the Pillar of Life and a symbol of the True Cross, and has become surrounded by legends. It remained unclimbed by researchers and unsurveyed until 1944 and was more systematically studied from 1999 to 2009. These studies determined the ruins were of an early medieval hermitage dating from the 9th or 10th century. A Georgian inscription paleographically dated to the 13th century suggests that the hermitage was still extant at that time.^[1] Religious activity associated with the pillar was revived in the 1990s^[2] and the monastery building had been restored within the framework of a state-funded program by 2009.^[3]

^ ^a ^b (in Georgian) Gagoshidze, Giorgi (2010), კაცხის სვეტი ("Katskhi Pillar") Archived 2015-06-10 at the Wayback Machine. Academia, No. 1: 55–68. ISSN 1512-0899.
^ Bardzimashvili, Temo (August 27, 2010), Georgian Monk Builds Stairway to Heaven. Eurasianet.org. Accessed May 12, 2012.
^ National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia (2009), Rehabilitation of the Monuments of Georgia Archived 2013-10-17 at the Wayback Machine, p. 142. Heritagesites.ge. Accessed May 12, 2012.

[acad-1] (in Georgian) Gagoshidze, Giorgi (2010), კაცხის სვეტი ("Katskhi Pillar") Archived 2015-06-10 at the Wayback Machine. Academia, No. 1: 55–68. ISSN 1512-0899.

[ean-2] Bardzimashvili, Temo (August 27, 2010), Georgian Monk Builds Stairway to Heaven. Eurasianet.org. Accessed May 12, 2012.

[herit-3] National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia (2009), Rehabilitation of the Monuments of Georgia Archived 2013-10-17 at the Wayback Machine, p. 142. Heritagesites.ge. Accessed May 12, 2012.

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