Monastery · Tibaani, Sighnaghi Municipality, Kakheti
Khirsa Monastery
ხირსის მონასტერი · Monastery of St Stephen of Khirsa
Founded in the sixth century by St Stephen, one of the Assyrian Fathers, this monastery in Tibaani village in Sighnaghi municipality is built around a domed church with a three-storey bell tower.
Where it is
41.5777, 46.0007
Why go
The main church began as a basilica and was converted into a domed church in the tenth century, then remodelled in the eleventh and sixteenth; it measures about 41 by 23 metres. Stephen's tomb lies in a chapel on the north side of the sanctuary. A fortification wall attributed to King Leon of Kakheti encloses the church, the bell tower and a two-storey monks' house. Enemy invasions damaged the monastery repeatedly, and after restoration in the 1990s it functions again as a monastery. It lies in the Alazani valley south-east of Sighnaghi, the natural base for a visit.
Near Khirsa Monastery
Canyon
Artsivi (Eagle) Gorge
A limestone canyon just north of Dedoplistskaro where eagles and vultures nest on the cliffs, with a one-kilometre footpath maintained by the Vashlovani Protected Areas administration.
13 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Archaeological site
Dolochopi Basilica
The excavated ruins of a fifth-century three-nave basilica on the north-western edge of Kvareli, beside the Duruji River, measuring about 36 by 18 metres.
47 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Nekresi Monastery
A monastery complex among woods at about 480 metres on the northern slope of the Gombori Ridge near Shilda, with churches built between the fourth and the eighteenth centuries.
48 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Lake
Black Rock Lake
A high mountain lake on Georgia's border with Dagestan at the far end of Lagodekhi National Park, reached only on a three-day trek from the park administration.
50 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ