Church of Theotokos of Vale
The Church of the Theotokos of Vale is a medieval Georgian Orthodox church at the town of Vale in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region in the south of Georgia, built in honor of the Theotokos.
The extant edifice is a 16th-century monument, a three-nave basilica, a result of remodeling of an earlier, late-10th-century domed church, of which parts of lavish decor such as relief sculptures of laymen, clergy, and equestrian saints as well as cornices and window frames survive. A bell-tower on the roof is an 18th or 19th-century addition. A 16th-century Georgian inscription in asomtavruli script reveals that the church was built de novo by Dedisimedi, princess-consort of the Principality of Samtskhe, of which Vale was part.
