Considerations about the Establishment of Christianity in Svaneti and traditional Svan Dwelling

Abstract

The article considers the opinion on the possible sacral significance of a traditional residential building in one of the regions of Georgia, Svaneti and the ethnoreligious symbiosis that has existed for centuries between local pre-Christian customs and the newly established canonical Christianity. Just in the context of this idea the focus here is on the alleged attempt to visualize the story of the birth of the Savior in the daily life of a particular ethnos, isolated from the outside world. We are talking about the changed purpose of the partition separating the housing for people and livestock, its functional meaning and artistic decoration; the peculiarities of the local rules of childbirth and their explanations are discussed. The use of plots of centuries-old folk heroic ethos in the painting of the facades of Christian churches is especially noted. The opinions expressed in the article are hypothetical and require further study.