Shoana Church
Encyclopedia
Alania
Alania may refer to:*Alania, the medieval state of the Alans or Alani people in the North Caucasus*The short name of the modern North Ossetia-Alania, one of the Caucasian republics in the Russian Federation...
n church sited on a cliff above the left bank of the Kuban River
Kuban River
The Kuban River is a river in Russia, in the North Caucasus region. It flows mostly through Krasnodar Krai but also in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Stavropol Krai and the Republic of Adygea....
, 7 km upstream from Karachayevsk
Karachayevsk
Karachayevsk is a town in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Russia, located on the Kuban River in the Caucasus Mountains. Population: It was founded in 1929 as Georgievskoye and was soon renamed after Anastas Mikoyan as Mikoyan-Shahar...
and 4 km downstream from the ruins of Skhimar, in the vicinity of Kosta Khetagurov
Kosta Khetagurov
Konstantin Khetagkati was a national poet of the Ossetian people who is generally regarded as the founder of the Ossetic literature. He was also a talented painter and a notable public benefactor...
Village. It is a typical Byzantine-style
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...
church, 12.9 meters high, with three naves, separated by four pillars. The building was first explored and depicted by Joseph Bernardazzi in 1829; a more scholarly description was given by Abraham Firkovich
Abraham Firkovich
Abraham ben Samuel Firkovich was a famous leader of the Qarays . He was born in Lutsk, Volhynia, then lived in Lithuania, and finally settled in Çufut Qale, Crimea. Firkovich was a communal leader and hakham...
in 1848. Two medieval books from this church are now in the University of Göttingen.