50 Lari 2016, Georgia
| in Krause book | Number: 79 |
| Years of issue: | 2016 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | President of the National Bank of Georgia: Giorgi Kadagidze (in office February 2009 - February 2016) |
| Serie: | 2016 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 2016 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 137 х 68 |
| Printer: | Polska Wytwornia Papierow Wartocziowych, Warszawa |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Denomination 50. Emblem of "GEL". The fresco of the Queen Tamar, XII century (please read obverse description).
Avers:
There are three frescoes depicting Queen Tamara:
1) In the Vardzia Monastery, where Tamara is depicted with her father. It is chronologically the first image of the Queen from the three existing ones.
2) In Kintsvisi monastery, in the Kareli district, dates back to the most recent years of the life of Tamara.
3) In remote Betania monastery, in canyon of the Vera river valley, near Tbilisi. In the middle of the XIX century it was sketched artist Gagarin.
Tamar the Great (Georgian: თამარი) (c. 1160 – 18 January 1213) reigned as the Queen of Georgia from 1184 to 1213, presiding over the apex of the Georgian Golden Age. A member of the Bagrationi dynasty, her position as the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right was emphasized by the title mepe ("king"), afforded to Tamar in the medieval Georgian sources.
Tamar was proclaimed heir and co-ruler by her reigning father George III in 1178, but she faced significant opposition from the aristocracy upon her ascension to full ruling powers after George's death. Tamar was successful in neutralizing this opposition and embarked on an energetic foreign policy aided by the decline of the hostile Seljuq Turks. Relying on a powerful military élite, Tamar was able to build on the successes of her predecessors to consolidate an empire which dominated the Caucasus until its collapse under the Mongol attacks within two decades after Tamar's death.
Tamar was married twice, her first union being, from 1185 to 1187, to the Rus' prince Yuri, whom she divorced and expelled from the country, defeating his subsequent coup attempts. For her second husband Tamar chose, in 1191, the Alan prince David Soslan, by whom she had two children, George and Rusudan, the two successive monarchs on the throne of Georgia.
Tamar's association with the period of political and military successes and cultural achievements, combined with her role as a female ruler, has led to her idealization and romanticization in Georgian arts and historical memory. She remains an important symbol in Georgian popular culture and has been canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church as the Holy Righteous Queen Tamar (წმიდა კეთილმსახური მეფე თამარი, ts'mida k'etilmsakhuri mepe tamari), with her feast day commemorated on 14 May (O.S. 1 May). 
In top right corner is the image of the griffin with lions body from the east wall of Samtavisi Cathedral.
Samtavisi (Georgian: სამთავისი) is an eleventh-century Georgian Orthodox cathedral in eastern Georgia, in the region of Shida Kartli, some 45 km. from the nation’s capital Tbilisi. The cathedral is now one of the centers of the Eparchy of Samtavisi and Gori of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
The cathedral is located on the left bank of the Lekhura River, some 11km of the town of Kaspi. According to a Georgian tradition, the first monastery on this place was founded by the Assyrian missionary Isidore in 572 and, later, rebuilt in the X century. Neither of these buildings has survived however. The earliest extant structures date to the eleventh century, the main edifice being built in 1030 as revealed by a now lost stone inscription. The cathedral was built by a local bishop and a skillful architect Hilarion who also authored the nearby church of Ashuriani. Heavily damaged by a series of earthquakes, the Cathedral was partially reconstructed in the XV and XIX centuries. The masterly decorated eastern façade is the only survived original structure.
The Samtavisi Cathedral is a rectangular 4-piered cruciform domed church. It illustrates a Georgian interpretation of the cross-in-square form which set an example for many churches built in the heyday of medieval Georgia. The exterior is distinguished by the liberal use of ornamental blind arcading. The apses do not project, but their internal position is marked by deep recesses in the wall. In contrast to earlier Georgian churches, the drum of the dome is taller surmounted by a conical roof. Artistically, the most rounded portion of the church is its five-arched eastern façade, dominated by the two niches and enlivened by a bold ornate cross motif.
Beyond the main church, the Samtavisi complex includes a badly damaged two-storied bishop’s residence, a small church (5.8 х 3.2 m.), and a three-storied belltower (5.7 х 7.3 m.) attached to the 3-5 m. high fence made of stone and brick. All these structures date to the XVII-XVIII centuries.
Centered is a cave monastery site Vardzia.
Vardzia (Georgian: ვარძია) is a cave monastery site in southern Georgia, excavated from the slopes of the Erusheti Mountain on the left bank of the Kura River, thirty kilometres from Aspindza. The main period of construction was the second half of the twelfth century. The caves stretch along the cliff for some five hundred meters and in up to nineteen tiers. The monastery was an important cultural center, a place of significant literary and artistic work.
The Church of the Dormition, dating to the 1180s during the golden age of Tamar and Rustaveli, has an important series of wall paintings. The site was largely abandoned after the Ottoman takeover in the sixteenth century. Now part of a state heritage reserve, the extended area of Vardzia-Khertvisi has been submitted for future inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
On right side of The Queen Tamar are bas-reliefs from Pitarety Monastery.
Pitareti Monastery (Georgian: ფიტარეთის მონასტერი) is a medieval Orthodox Christian monastery in Georgia, approximately 26 km. southwest of the town of Tetritsqaro, Kvemo Kartli, southwest of the nation's capital Tbilisi.
The Pitareti monastery consists of the Theotokos church, a belfry, the ruined wall and several smaller accessory buildings. The main church appears to have been built in the reign of George IV early in the 13th century. Its design conforms to the contemporary canon of a Georgian domed church and shares a series of common features – such as a typical cross-in-square plan and a single lateral porch – with the monasteries of Betania, Kvatakhevi, and Timotesubani. The façades are decorated, accentuating the niches and dormers. The entire interior was once frescoed, but only significantly damaged fragments of those murals survive.
The monastery was a property and a burial ground of the noble family of Kachibadze-Baratashvili and, since 1536, of their offshoots – the princes Orbelishvili. A XIV-century inscription mentions a ctitor – the royal chamberlain Kavtar Kachibadze. Another inscription, from a grave stone, records the name of Qaplan Orbelishvili who refurnished the monastery in 1671. The monastery thrived at Pitareti until 1752 when it was forced to close due to a marauding attack from Dagestan.
The map of Georgia is in lower right corner.
50 Lari 2016 in UV.
Revers:
The Sagittarius (November) from Georgian astronomical treatise of XII century of 1188 (showed on left side of banknote). Paper, mixed technique. Size: 30x23 cm. Today it is in the Georgian national museum.
The Georgian National Museum (Georgian: საქართველოს ეროვნული მუზეუმი, translit.: sakartvelos erovnuli muzeumi) unifies several leading museums in Georgia. It was established within the framework of structural, institutional, and legal reforms aimed at modernizing the management of the institutions united within this network, and at coordinating research and educational activities.
The Georgian National Museum integrates the management of the following museums:
Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia, Tbilisi
Samtskhe-Javakheti History Museum, Akhaltsikhe
Open Air Museum of Ethnography, Tbilisi
Art Museum of Georgia, Tbilisi, and its branches
Museum of the Soviet Occupation, Tbilisi
Dmanisi Museum-Reserve of History and Archaeology, Dmanisi
Vani Museum-Reserve of Archaeology, Vani
Museum of History of Tbilisi, Tbilisi
Museum of History and Ethnography of Svaneti, Mestia
Institute of Palaeobiology, Tbilisi
Sighnaghi Museum, Sighnaghi
Georgian coat of arms is in top right corner.
The coat of arms of Georgia is one of the national symbols of the republic. It is partially based on the medieval arms of the Georgian royal house and features Saint George, the traditional patron saint of Georgia. In addition to St. George, the original proposal included additional heraldic elements found on the royal seal, such as the seamless robe of Jesus, but this was deemed excessively religious and was not incorporated into the final version.
The State coat of arms of Georgia is a heraldic shield, on its red field is depicted a silver rider on a silver horse and with a silver spear ending with a golden cross, Saint George with a golden halo, striking a silver dragon. The shield is crowned with the Iverian (Georgian) crown. The supporters are two golden lions, standing on a compartment of stylized grape vine ornament. The compartment is embellished with a silver-purple motto ribbon (face is silver, back is purple). On the silver field of the ribbon with black Mkhedruli letters is written the motto "ძალა ერთობაშია" ("Strength is in unity"). On the ribbon, in the beginning and the end of the inscription, are depicted purpure heraldic crosses.
Although the shield is officially described as purpure, it is often depicted as red.
Comments:
Designer of Lari sign: professional artist-ceramist Malkhaz Shvelidze.
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