Senty Church
Encyclopedia
Senty Church is a Byzantine-style
limestone church situated in the Greater Caucasus
, on the left bank of the Teberda River, near the village of Nizhnyaya Teberda, 18 km south of Karachaevsk, Karachay-Cherkessia
, Russian Federation
.
The diminutive building, about ten meters in height, is notable as one of the earliest churches in Russia. Like the Shoana Church
and the Arkhyz
Cathedral, it is believed to have been constructed in connection with missionary activities of Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos
in the first quarter of the 10th century. There are traces of frescoes from the 11th century. The church was much altered at the urging of the nuns from a nearby monastery in the 19th century. Near the church lie the ruins of an ancient mausoleum
.
Byzantine architecture
Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from what is today referred to as the Roman Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire east from Rome to...
limestone church situated in the Greater Caucasus
Greater Caucasus
Greater Caucasus , sometimes translated as "Caucasus Major", "Big Caucasus" or "Large Caucasus") is the major mountain range of the Caucasus Mountains....
, on the left bank of the Teberda River, near the village of Nizhnyaya Teberda, 18 km south of Karachaevsk, Karachay-Cherkessia
Karachay-Cherkessia
The Karachay-Cherkess Republic , or Karachay-Cherkessia is a federal subject of Russia . Population: -Geography:*Area: *Borders:**internal: Krasnodar Krai , Kabardino-Balkar Republic , Stavropol Krai ....
, Russian Federation
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
The diminutive building, about ten meters in height, is notable as one of the earliest churches in Russia. Like the Shoana Church
Shoana Church
Shoana Church , also known as Khumara Church , is an early 10th-century Alanian church sited on a cliff above the left bank of the Kuban River, 7 km upstream from Karachayevsk and 4 km downstream from the ruins of Skhimar, in the vicinity of Kosta Khetagurov Village...
and the Arkhyz
Arkhyz
Arkhyz is a mountainous region in the vicinity of the eponymous aul sitting at an altitude of 1,450 meters in the valley of the Bolshoi Zelenchuk river, in the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia, Greater Caucasus, Russia, about 70 km inland from the Black Sea shore. The modern village was founded in...
Cathedral, it is believed to have been constructed in connection with missionary activities of Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos
Nicholas Mystikos
Nicholas I Mystikos or Nicholas I Mysticus was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from March 901 to February 906 and from May 912 to his death in 925. His feast day in the Orthodox Church is May 16.Nicholas was born in the Italian Peninsula and had become a friend of the Patriarch Photios...
in the first quarter of the 10th century. There are traces of frescoes from the 11th century. The church was much altered at the urging of the nuns from a nearby monastery in the 19th century. Near the church lie the ruins of an ancient mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
.