Ienashi church
The Ienashi church of the Prophet Jonah (), also known as the church of Ian (Svan: ჲან), is a medieval Georgian Orthodox church in the highland northwestern Georgian province of Upper Svaneti, now part of the Mestia Municipality, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region. The church is built sometime between the 12th and 14th centuries, but reflects an earlier Georgian practice by having a semi-open aisle—an ambulatory—terminating in an apse to the east of the main nave of the building. The church is inscribed on the list of the Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance of Georgia. Location The church of the Prophet Jonah is situated in the village of Ienashi, at 1360 m above sea level, in the Latali territorial unit of the Mestia Municipality, at the foothills of the Greater Caucasus. This part of Svaneti was known as Free Svaneti in the 19th century. There are no contemporary literary sources on the construction and history of Ienashi. The church and the items preserved in it were first described, in greatest details, by the scholar Ekvtime Taqaishvili during his expedition to Svaneti in 1910. Layout The Ienashi church is built of evenly cut limestone blocks. It is a hall church, with an