Paper short abstract:

The paper will bring to focus a contemporary case study from the IDP village in Tserovani, with the story of a woodcarver family, which brought the traditional old wood-carved column dedabodzi, from their original house to the new one as a symbol of memory and sacredness of place.

Paper long abstract:

The home, the dwelling, perceived as a sacred place and more specifically as a microcosm, has long been a tradition in Georgian culture. The most ancient type amongst such homes is 'darbazi' - the hall type dwelling predominantly found in southern and eastern Georgia. It has a central hall with a graded wooden dome named 'gvirgvini', which literally means 'the crown'. The only opening in the middle of the dome symbolized the heavenly light and emphasized the sacredness of the place. Our focus, however, would be another essential element of this traditional dwelling, namely the central wooden column 'dedabodzi', the mother pillar. Rising in the middle of the central hall of the dwelling, widening up to the dome, decorated with wood-carved geometric ornamental patterns, it bears the astral imagery and reflects the ancient cult of sacred Tree - axis mundi maintained in Georgia for centuries.

The paper will present a contemporary case study from the IDP village in Tserovani, Georgia, the cottage settlement where people displaced during the August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia live. Due to this war nearly 26,000 Georgians living in the Tskhinvali region lost their homes and became internally displaced persons. The paper will discuss the case of a woodcarver family, who brought the mother pillar with them from their original house and installed it in a completely new and typical cottage. The paper will explore the myriad ways in which this object, as a symbol of home, is recreated in a new context.