Gelati

Introducing Gelati

Georgians have always had a knack for choosing the most superb locations for their churches and this monastery complex, on a wooded hillside 10km northeast of Kutaisi, is no exception.

Gelati was founded by King David the Builder in 1106 as a centre for both Christian culture and Neo-Platonist learning. King David invited scholars such as Iaone Petritsi and Arsen Ikaltoeli to teach here and the Gelati Academy became, according to medieval chroniclers, ‘a second Jerusalem’ and ‘another Athos, albeit superior to it’. Many Georgian rulers were buried here, including David the Builder himself, Queen Tamar (according to her chronicler, although this is disputed) and Bagrat III of Imereti. In 1510 the Ottoman Turks set fire to the complex, but Bagrat III subsequently restored the monastery, and it was made the seat of a bishop and the residence of the West Georgian patriarch. The monks were cast out by the communist authorities in 1922, but the churches were reconsecrated in 1988. President Saakashvili chose Gelati as the site of his inauguration in 2004.

The interior of the main Cathedral of the Virgin is among the brightest and most colourful in Georgia. Among the frescoes, painted at various times between the 12th and 18th centuries, note especially the line of eight noble figures in the north transept: these include David the Builder (holding the church) and Bagrat III (with a cross over his left shoulder). Across the corner to the right of David are the Byzantine emperor Constantine and his wife, Helena. The apse holds a famous 1130s mosaic of the Virgin and Child, with Archangels Michael and Gabriel to the left and right respectively. The lower part of this was restored in the Soviet era by painting.

Outside the cathedral’s west door is the smaller Church of St Nicholas, built on top of an unusual arcaded base, and beyond that, the roofless remains of the Academy, where philosophy, theology, sciences and painting were studied and important chronicles and translations written. To the left of these, inside the South Gate, lies David the Builder’s grave. David gave orders that he be buried here so that all who entered the monastery would step on his huge 3m tomb, a notably humble gesture for such a powerful man.

Last updated: Mar 2, 2009