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The church is located in the West Georgia, Samegrelo region,
in 30 km from Zugdidi, the center of the region, on the
bank of the river Tchanis-tskali, on the low hill, in the
village Tsalendjikha. The church is surrounded by the circuit
walls with a bell-tower in the N-W corner. In the west part
there are the ruins of the palace of the feodal family of
Dadiani.
The 12th c. church of Tsalendjikha is mentioned in the
inscription of the Georgian chased icon of "Crucifixion",
dated to the 13th c. Most of the information is obtained
from the painted inscriptipns and the donator portraits
in the main space and the chapels. The painted inscription
on the south-west pillar mentions Constantinopolitan painter
Kyr Manuel Eugenikos, invited to Georgia for executing the
wall painting at Tsalendjikha church. The inscription is
made in Georgian and Greek. The same inscription mentions
prince Vamek Dadiani, commissioner of the painting, who
ruled Odishi (Samegrelo) in 1384-1396. Vamek Dadiani was
"Mandaturrukhutsesi" (minister of the interior)
of the Royal court. There is preserved his portrait and
donator inscription in the church of Khobi monastery (West
Georgia), on the coin dated to 14th c. On the north-west
pillar there is an inscription (in Georgian) mentioning
the noblemen (Makharobeli Kvabalia and Andronike Gabisulava)
that were sent to Constantinople to bring to Georgia a Greek
painter. The repairs made in the 17th c. and the wall paintings
of the south-west chapels were commissioned by the descendant
of Vamek Dadiani, Prince Levan Dadiani (1611 -1657), famous
figure in the 1.7th c political and cultural life of Georgia.
His portrait with his spouse, heirs and etc. is found in
several paintings in Georgia and even in Jerusalem (he was
one of donators of the Holy Cross Monastery in the Holy
Land), on several chased icons etc.
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