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Bolnisi cross

The Bolnisi cross ( ) is a cross symbol, taken from a 5th-century ornament at the Bolnisi Sioni church, which came to be used as a national symbol of Georgia.

It is a variant of the cross pattée popular in Christian symbolism of late antiquity and the early medieval period. The same symbol gave rise to cross variants used during the Crusades, the Maltese cross of the Knights Hospitaller and (via the Jerusalem cross and the Black cross of the Teutonic Order) the Iron cross used by the German military.

The four small crosses used in the Georgian flag are officially described as (, ) even though they are only slightly .

See also

Bibliography

  • Michael TarchniÅ¡vili: Geschichte der kirchlichen georgischen Literatur (= Studi e Testi. 185, ZDB-ID 762276-4). Auf Grund des 1. Bandes der georgischen Literaturgeschichte von K. Kekelidze bearbeitet. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Città del Vaticano 1955.
  • Elene Mačavariani: Bolnisis sionis samÅ¡eneblo carcera. Mec'niereba, T'bilisi 1985, (In georgischer Schrift. Zusammenfassung in russischer und französischer Sprache).
  • (Zugleich: Marburg, Universität, Dissertation, 1998).
  • .

References