Decoration Aesthetics of Churches in the Caucasus

By aesthetically looking at an artwork, we discover the appearance and the development background of that artwork. Aesthetics studies the material and identity of a phenomenon and discovers the reasons as to why and how it exists. In religious constructions and particularly churches in the two countries of Armenia and Georgia, two different approaches were observed in regards to contemporary decorations. Comparison of the church decorations in these two areas reveals some differences in their contemporary approaches due to their relatively similar historical background. In Georgia, lots of indiscriminately extra decorations are added to the primary church constructions which are used as the means to preach Christianity, demonstrate churches and the power of governance in the city landscape. Whereas in Armenia, freestanding decorations are preserved as they were in early Christianity and no effort has been put to add or change them; their approach is to preserve the historical landscape with the least decorations and to demonstrate the original architecture of church.