Which monastery complexes are worth visiting first of all in Georgia. Gelati Monastery complex.

The main cathedral is decorated with hewn Eclair stone and is rich in fresco paintings. On the altar vault there is a Gelat mosaic (depicting the Virgin and Child, the archangels Gabriel and Michael), in the western stand there is a fresco of the XII century depicting a church meeting; in the southern prayer room there are two images of David VI Narin (1246-1293): on one he is in royal attire, on the second - in monastic. The northern wall depicts members of the Imeretian royal family (XVI century.), there is also a portrait of David IV Agmashenebeli (1089-1125). The portrait was restored in the XVI century.

At the southern side of the wall, in the main gate, there is a tombstone of David Agmashenebeli (the grave itself is presumably located under the monastery). According to historical sources, Gelati was the tomb of the kings of united Georgia and all the kings of the XII - XIII centuries. (David IV, Dmitry I, George III, Tamara, George IV), as well as the Imeretian kings of the XVI-XIX centuries. (Bagrat III, George II, George III, Alexander V, Solomon I and the last Georgian king Solomon II) are buried in Gelati.

Gelati was a royal monastery, and in the XII-XV centuries it was subordinate directly to the tsar and the first minister. The rector of the Gelat Academy had a high status at the court and was almost equal in importance to the Catholicos-Patriarch. The senior nuns of the monastery were members of the royal council.

In the 20s of the XVI century, an episcopal see was established in Gelati, and at the end of the XVI century, the residence of the Catalikos Patriarch was moved from Pitsunda to a safer place - in Gelati. At various times, the richest collection of Georgian manuscripts, the national treasury (the Khakhul Icon of the Mother of God) was kept in Gelati. In 1923, the Bolsheviks closed the monastery. It became operational again in 1990.

The Gelati Monastery complex also includes the Gelati Academy, the main educational center of medieval Georgia. Contemporaries compared it with the Jerusalem and Athens Academies, since the learning process was simultaneously based on the scientific traditions of antiquity and Christianity. Along with studying at the academy, translation and scientific activities were carried out, original compositions were created.