By Tika Bujiashvili
Kvemo Kartli is rich with Christian architectural monuments – There are more than 250 ruined churches there. One of them is Tandzia.
Tandzia is a village in Kvemo Kartli, Bolnisi municipality, Georgia. Kvemo Kartli is located in the western part of the region, on the right side of the river Khrami, at an altitude of 840 meters. It is 16 kilometers from Bolnisi to Tandzia. Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, a Georgian writer and diplomat, was born in Tandzia. There is Sulkhan Saba orbeliani museum there.
There are the ruins of the churches and palace in the village. The church was built in 1670 by Mirza Orbeliani, and the second one- St. Nicholas Church, due to the Synaxarion of the church, was built by Mdivanbeg Vakhtang Orbeliani, Sulkhan-Saba’s father in 1683. It was built with reddish Algetian hewn. On the south wall a solar clock is depicted. You will also see some old inscriptions there: “Saint Nicholas, be a patron of Orbel”.
In the XIV century Kavtar Kajpadze purchased the village Tandzia and donated to Pitareti St.Virgin Mary Church.
Tandzia is not studied archeologically yet.
P.S. More information about Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani: Sulkhan-Saba
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