The basilica at Shilda is a relatively large example of the "three church" type and represents a simple variant of the form. It has three windows on the east end and the north aisle is truncated because the eastern end forms a pastophorion only accessible from the central nave of the building, as encountered elsewhere in places such as Eniseli and Dubi. The central nave is a great deal higher than normal and this is the result of a substantial rebuilding in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries, almost certainly as the result of a Lezghin (Dagestani) raid. At the same time as the roof was raised, windows were added at the clerestory level to the north, south and west and doors were added from the central nave to the aisles and from the aisles to the exterior on both the north and south sides. The only two slight departures from this common form of basilica type that are original are the fact that the whole building is tied together - the aisles are tied into the central nave - rather than separate as a precaution against seismic activity and both the north and south aisles are considerably wider than is standard.
Creator
Emma Loosley
Date of Visit
21st August 2017
Contributor
Emma Loosley
Peter Leeming
Rights
Metadata and all media released under Creative Commons
unless otherwise indicated
Type
Architecture
Tags
Architecture, Basilica, C18th, C19th, Church, Dagestan, Georgia, Kakheti, Late Antique, Lezghins, Shilda, Three Church Basilica
Collection
The Early Christian Architecture of Georgia
Citation
Emma Loosley, “Shilda,” Architecture and Asceticism, accessed December 3, 2024, https://architectureandasceticism.exeter.ac.uk/items/show/860.