Manglisi მანგლისი | |
|---|---|
Borough | |
 Environs of Manglisi | |
  Manglisi Location in Georgia Show map of Georgia Manglisi Manglisi (Kvemo Kartli) Show map of Kvemo Kartli | |
| Coordinates:41°41′49″N44°23′04″E / 41.69694°N 44.38444°E /41.69694; 44.38444 | |
| Country |  Georgia |
| Region | Kvemo Kartli |
| Municipality | Tetritsqaro |
| Daba | 1926 |
| Elevation | 1,200 m (3,900 ft) |
| Population (2014)[1] | |
• Total | 1,441 |
| Climate | Dfb |
Manglisi (Georgian:მანგლისი,pronounced[manɡlisi]) is adaba (townlet) in theTetritsqaro Municipality,Kvemo Kartliregion ofGeorgia. As of the 2014 census, it had the population of 1,441.[1] With arecorded history going back to the 4th century, Manglisi was one of the earliest centers ofChristianity in Georgia and is a home to the medievalcathedral of the Mother of God. It also functions as a mountain spa and health resort.
Manglisi is located on the southern slopes of theTrialeti Range, on theTbilisi-Tsalka highway, 56 kilometres (35 mi) west of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, in theAlgeti river valley. It is located at about 1,200 metres (3,900 ft)above sea level and enjoys asubtropical climate, with warm summers (average temperature in July, 19 °C) and mild winters (average temperature in January, −2 °C). Annual precipitation is 700 mm. Manglisi also functions as amountain resort.[2]
The etymology of "Manglisi" may be related to theOld Georgianmangali, "sickle",[3] ultimately derived from theSyrianmaggəlā.[4] The modern Georgian scholar Ketevan Kutateladze has conjectured that, the name of the locality, in the sense of "a crescent", may be a reflection of theMoon cult,[5] an effect of which persisted in the system of religious beliefs of Georgians into the era of Christianity.[6]
In the earlyBronze Age, the territory of Manglisi was part of the wider region, home to akurgan culture.[7] By the earlyMiddle Ages, Manglisi and its environs strategically located on the course of the Algeti river formed a territorial unit known as Manglis-khevi, "the valley of Manglisi".[5]
TheGeorgian historical tradition makes Manglisi, along withMtskheta andErusheti, one of the earliest church establishments inKartli (Iberia) following KingMirian's conversion to Christianity in the 330s. According to the 11th-century historianLeonti Mroveli, Manglisi was the first place which the bishop John of Kartli, returning from his mission toConstantinople with a group ofByzantine priests and masons, chose to build a Christian church. There, the chronicle continues, he left the relics brought from Constantinople as presents of the emperorConstantine the Great, to the disappointment of King Mirian who wanted to have the relics at his capital, Mtskheta.[8]
Manglisi became a seat of the homonymous bishopric underVakhtang I in the 5th century.[9] The diocesan territory of Manglisi covered much of the Algeti valley and at times expanded beyond it.[5] The church of Manglisi was also a site of pilgrimage for the neighboringArmenians until the catholicos Abraham of Armenia excommunicated the Georgians following an ecclesiastic schism between the two peoples in 607 and instructed his compatriots not to go on pilgrimage to Mtskheta and Manglisi.[10] Manglisi was dispossessed of its relic, thefoot-rest (suppedaneum) of the Lord, by the Byzantine emperorHeraclius who passed through Kartli during hiswar with Iran in the 620s.[11][12]
The valley of Manglisi appears in possession of theJuansheriani family,[13] a branch of the former royal dynasty ofChosroids of Iberia, in the middle of the 8th century,[14] and then of theLiparitids, whose one member Rati, a contemporary ofBagrat III (r. 978/1008–1014), is described by the Georgian chronicler to have held "the fortress ofAteni and all Kartli south of theMtkuari,Trialeti, Manglis-khevi, andSkvireti."[15] At the beginning of the 11th century, the cathedral of Manglisi, originally atetraconch, was substantially reconstructed and refurbished.[16] In 1121, the field of Didgori, not far from Manglisi, was a scene of theclimactic victory of the Georgian kingDavid IV over theSeljuq Turks.[17] After a series of foreign invasions, more so followingTimur's campaigns, the valley of Manglisi went into gradual decline. By the 1770s, it had been listed among the emptied eparchies of the Georgian church.[18] The abandoned cathedral still stood there, undisturbed by Georgia's Muslim intruders because, as the 18th-century historianPrince Vakhushti claims, they thought one of the frescoes in the church depictedMuhammad seated upon a lion.[19] The fresco is, in fact, an image of St.Mammes of Caesarea.[20]
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After the arrival of theRussian rule in Georgia, the depopulated village of Manglisi (Russian:Манглис,Manglis) was chosen, in 1823, by GeneralAleksey Yermolov as the headquarters of one of the regiments under his command, to be called, after 1827, the 13th Erivansky Grenadier Regiment for its role in the victory atErivan in thewar with Persia.[21] On this occasion, the Russian authorities had also transplanted some civilian families from the neighboring districts. By the early 1850s, Manglis had been a relatively well-organized Russian colony.[22] The old cathedral was also restored from 1851 to 1857.[23] The population, with an overwhelming Slavic majority, was up to 3,000 in 1892.[24] By the early 1890s, Manglis had also acquired aspa town status, where the people of Tiflis (Tbilisi) could escape the city's summer heat.[25]
During theSoviet period, Manglisi continued to function as a spa and its sanatoriums provided services for people withrespiratory diseases.[2] In 1924, the state-run airlineZakavia organized a short-lived line Tiflis—Manglis to serve local tourist interests.[26] On August 29, 1924, theRed Army barracks in Manglisi were raided, ultimately unsuccessfully, byanti-Soviet insurgents led byKakutsa Cholokashvili.[27]
In 1926, the settlement was granted the status ofdaba (urban-type settlement). According to the nationwide Georgian census of 2002, Manglisi had the population of 2,752, a 30.1% drop from 3,939 in the lastSoviet census of 1989.[28]