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Monastery · Sagarejo Municipality, Kakheti

David Gareja Monastery Complex

დავითგარეჯის სამონასტრო კომპლექსი · დავითგარეჯა · Davit Gareja · David Gareji · David Gareji Monasteries and Hermitage

A complex of rock-cut monasteries on the semi-desert Gareja ridge in Kakheti, begun in the 6th century by the Assyrian father David Garejeli. The Lavra he founded is the monastery visitors reach by road.

Where it is

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Open David Gareja Monastery Complex on the XTOUR map. Directions are available there.

41.4475, 45.3767

Why go

Expect caves and cliffs rather than a single church. UNESCO's tentative-list entry counts 19 medieval monasteries with roughly 5,000 monks' cells, alongside caves once used as bakeries, barns and smithies, spread across the arid Iori plateau near the border with Azerbaijan. The murals are the artistic prize: they include portraits of Georgian royalty, and the Gareji school of painting flourished between the late 10th and early 13th centuries. The Lavra, the monastery David himself founded, is where the road ends and where this page's map pin sits. Other monasteries of the complex, including Udabno on the ridge above the Lavra, stand closer to the border, and XTOUR has not confirmed whether they can currently be visited.

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Tbilisi

Georgia’s capital is a layered city of old balconies, sulfur baths, hillside neighborhoods, contemporary restaurants and centuries of history along the Mtkvari River.

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