Bolnisi

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Katharinenfeld 1941

Bolnisi is a city in the country of Georgia. It lost a significant portion of its non-Georgian population after the fall of the Soviet Union and currently has an estimated 13,800 inhabitants.

The town was founded in 1818 by 95 German colonist families from Swabia and was named Katharinenfeld. After the occupation of the Red Army in 1921, it was renamed to Luxemburg after the German communist Rosa Luxemburg. 1941 all the Germans descendants who were not married to Georgians were deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan. 1944 the town was once again renamed as Bolnisi.

The economy is mostly agrarian with the notable exceptions of a winery, brewery, and a gold mine in the village of Ratevani.

Bolnisi is the home of the oldest dated Christian structure in Georgia and the Caucasus.^[1] It is known as Bolnisi Sioni (Sioni being Georgian for Zion and a designation used by many of their churches). This three-nave basilica church dates to the 5th century AD and features some pagan elements in its stonework. The original roof is missing but has been replaced with a modern covering.

A dedication inscription from the Bolnisi church, carved in the late 5th century, is one of the oldest dated specimens of Georgian writing. It mentions Bishop David of Bolnisi and two Sassanid kings Peroz I and Kavadh I.^[1]

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts, p. 316. Peeters Bvba, ISBN 90-429-1318-5.