# Ateni Sioni
- URL: https://explore-georgia.ge/en/places/ateni-sioni
- Type: place to visit
- Region: Shida Kartli
- Coordinates: 41.904296, 44.095473

Ateni Sioni stands on a platform held up by a retaining wall at the edge of a sheer cliff, in the Ateni valley, which is known not only for its historical monuments but also for its landscapes and its wine. The name "Sioni" comes from Mount Zion in Jerusalem. The church (24 × 19 m, 22 m high) is built mainly of dressed blocks of greenish-grey sandstone, with stones of other colours as well; the entrances are on the south and north. The plan is a tetraconch: the space under the dome opens on all four sides into apses, and between the arms of the cross there are corner rooms that open into the central space through niches of three-quarter-circle plan. An octagonal drum with four windows carries the spherical dome; the change from square to circle is made by squinches set in three tiers, and there is a relief cross in the dome. The sanctuary is raised by two steps, and a stone altar stands below the middle window of the east apse. The church is very close to the Jvari Monastery at Mtskheta, which is generally held to be the earlier of the two, so some art historians place it in the "Jvari type" group of churches.

The façades are decorated with reliefs and carved window heads. At the corners of the roof there are sheep's heads and the dome of a miniature church. The east façade stands above the precipice with only a narrow passage left in front of it, so the seven reliefs above the sanctuary window are hard to see: Christ with his hand raised in blessing on the middle face, figures beside him, and animals and birds below. The main south entrance, where a porch once stood, is decorated with double beaded capitals and ornamental half-columns. On the tympanum of the north entrance two deer drink from a round pool, symbolising believers drinking from the same source of faith; on the same façade Lukiane, disciple of David Gareji, milks a deer and Samson fights a lion. The west façade has a hunting scene and the prophet Habakkuk led by an angel to Daniel in the pit. The reliefs were made at different times: some are contemporary with the church, but most resemble Armenian reliefs of the second half of the tenth century.

Inside, where the plaster has fallen, fragments of the earliest decoration have come to light: an imitation of masonry in red paint and the relief cross in the dome outlined in the same paint. The whole interior was painted in the second half of the eleventh century; the hands of several painters can be told apart, but the design is a single one. In the sanctuary apse is the Virgin Nikopoia, on the vault of the bema Christ Pantocrator, and on the walls the twelve apostles. The south apse holds scenes from the life of the Virgin, the north apse scenes from the life of Christ, and the west apse is filled by the Last Judgement, with portraits of the donors, kings and nobles, in its lower register. The colours are built on shades of blue, from pale bluish-grey to pure cobalt, set with silvery green, red and violet.

## History

The church carries no date, but it is assigned to the first half of the seventh century. In the eastern niche of the south façade there is an Armenian inscription: "I, Todosak, the builder of this holy church". It was long taken for the building inscription, but newer research holds that it must be later; some scholars, among them G. Chubinashvili, consider Todosak the builder of the church, and others, such as G. Abramishvili, its restorer at the end of the tenth century.

The inscriptions of the ninth–eleventh centuries that survive on the walls are a rich source for the history, language and palaeography of Georgia. Among them is the earliest known Nuskhuri inscription, dated 835, and the earliest known examples of Mkhedruli, from the 980s. One inscription commemorates Adarnase, father of Ashot I, with whom the new royal line of the Georgian Bagratids begins. An inscription in the south apse tells how the caliph, angered with Ishaq ibn Isma'il, the emir of Tbilisi, sent a large army under Bugha al-Kabir; Bugha defeated Ishaq and had him executed, took Tbilisi on 5 August 853 and burned the city. By an inscription on the south façade, King Bagrat IV ordered a town built at Ateni in the 1060s, and the inscription lists all the buildings raised. The town was eventually ruined; the remains of the medieval fortified town lie near the church.

Scholars disagree on the date of the murals: Sh. Amiranashvili dated them to 904–906, R. Schmerling and T. Barnaveli to 1072–1080. The church was plundered more than once by invaders; traces of a fire from the invasion of Shah Abbas I can be seen in it, but the murals survived. In 1968–1975 a special scientific restoration workshop repaired and strengthened the lower parts of the façades and the roof of the dome; in 1983 the building was roofed with stone slabs and the murals were cleaned and consolidated. On 7 November 2006 Ateni Sioni was granted the category of an immovable cultural monument of national significance. The church is in use for worship.

## Visit info

The church is by the village of Didi Ateni, about 12 kilometres by road from Gori, in the Ateni valley. The yard looks out over the rocky mountains around; the local people used to grow vines on the terraces here. In the souvenir shop you can buy monastery wine, honey and wooden souvenirs. The church is in use, so keep quiet during services. Check the opening hours on site.

## Tips

On the tympanum of the north entrance look for the drinking deer, and on the west façade for the hunting scene. Inside, take time over the scenes from the life of the Virgin in the south apse and the Last Judgement with the donor portraits in the west apse, and over the old inscriptions that survive on the walls. Ateni Sioni combines well in one day with Gori Fortress and the Stalin Museum in Gori.

## Safety

The church stands at the edge of a sheer cliff, and in front of the east façade there is only a narrow passage above the precipice: walk there carefully, keep away from the edge and hold children by the hand. The murals are old and fragile, so do not touch the walls.

## Sources

- [Ateni Sioni — Georgian Wikipedia](https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/ატენის_სიონი)
- [Ateni Sioni Church — English Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ateni_Sioni_Church)
- [Ateni Sioni — Russian Wikipedia](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Атенский_Сион)
- [Ateni Sioni Church — georgia.travel (Georgian)](https://georgia.travel/ka/ატენის-სიონის-ეკლესია)
- [Ateni Sioni Church — georgia.travel](https://georgia.travel/ateni-sioni-church)
- [Ateni Sioni — Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q247960)

## This page in other languages

- [ქართული](https://explore-georgia.ge/ka/adgilebi/atenis-sioni)
- [Русский](https://explore-georgia.ge/ru/mesta/atenskii-sion)