Church of Kish
Caucasian Albanian church above Sheki, now a museum with excavations under glass floors.
The church stands in the hill village of Kish, about five kilometres above Sheki, and is tied in local tradition to the earliest Christian mission in Caucasian Albania. Radiocarbon dating carried out during the recent excavations places the standing building between about 990 and 1160, but objects found beneath the altar show that the spot was used for ritual far earlier, back towards 3000 BC. Two floor levels in the chancel record changes in the liturgy, and the walls are of rough stone with a domed apse.
Between 2000 and 2003 a project funded by the Norwegian foreign ministry, with the Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction, excavated and restored the church; Vilayat Karimov directed the digging. The Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl took an interest in the site and a bust of him stands outside. The church is no longer a parish but works as a museum: glass panels in the floor reveal burials and earlier foundations, and cases hold pottery, coins and other finds.
Highlights
- Standing church dated by radiocarbon to about 990-1160
- Glass floor panels over burials and earlier foundations
- Excavated and restored in a Norwegian project of 2000-2003
- Bust of Thor Heyerdahl in the grounds
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