Synagogue · Kutaisi, Imereti
Kutaisi Synagogue
ქუთაისის სინაგოგა · Great Synagogue of Kutaisi · სინაგოგა II
Kutaisi's main synagogue, built in 1886 on Boris Gaponov Street in the historic Jewish quarter, with an ornamented stone façade opening onto the street through a triple arcade and a painted interior.
Where it is
42.2741, 42.7090
Why go
Gaponov Street holds three synagogues, and this large one, completed in 1886, is the building to see. Its stone-faced façade on Gaponov Street is the most richly decorated, divided into a triple arcade, and inside the walls and ceiling are painted. A smaller and older synagogue stands in its yard. At the main entrance stands a monument, installed in 2014, to Boris Gaponov, who translated Shota Rustaveli's The Knight in the Panther's Skin into Hebrew and after whom the street is named. The building is a registered cultural heritage monument and is used for worship rather than run as a museum. It stands in central Kutaisi and fits easily into a walk around the city.
Near Kutaisi Synagogue
Church
Bagrati Cathedral
Bagrat III's cathedral on Ukimerioni Hill in Kutaisi, left in ruins after an Ottoman attack in the late 17th century and rebuilt in 2010.
1 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Motsameta Monastery
A small monastery on a rock promontory in a bend of the Tskaltsitela river, a few kilometres from Kutaisi and usually visited on the way to Gelati.
4 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Cave
Sataplia Cave
A karst cave and a set of fossil dinosaur footprints in a wooded reserve on the edge of Kutaisi, with a glass viewing platform out over the Imereti hills.
5 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Gelati Monastery
The twelfth-century monastery and medieval academy founded by David the Builder above Kutaisi, and the only UNESCO World Heritage site in western Georgia.
5 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ