Monastery · Motsameta, Tqibuli Municipality, Imereti

Motsameta Monastery

Name: Motsameta Monastery
Address: Motsameta, Imereti, Georgia

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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.

Why go

Motsameta is the setting more than the building. It stands on a spur of rock inside a loop of the Tskaltsitela river, with the gorge dropping away on three sides and Colchic forest on the slopes — a much smaller and much more dramatic site than Gelati, twenty minutes further up the same road. The name means place of the martyrs. It commemorates David and Constantine Mkheidze, brothers of the noble house of Argveti who led a rising against the Arab occupation in the eighth century, refused to convert, and were killed and thrown into the river. The river's name — Tskaltsitela, red water — is traditionally explained by their blood. King Bagrat IV built a church here in the eleventh century on the site of an earlier one destroyed in the same invasion, and the brothers' relics are kept in the crypt. Visitors are told that crawling under the crypt grants a wish, and you will usually see someone doing it. It is a living tradition at a working monastery rather than a tourist installation, which is worth remembering about how you behave around it.

Getting there

About four and a half kilometres north-east of Kutaisi in a straight line, on a side road off the Tqibuli road — roughly halfway between the city and Gelati, which is why almost nobody comes here on its own trip. The turning is signposted and the last stretch is a narrow lane down to the gorge; the final approach to the gate is on foot, through forest, and is short but steep in places.

Best time to visit

Autumn, when the forest in the gorge turns, and spring for the same reason in green. Early morning is quietest, before the Gelati tours work their way down.

Through the year

Open year-round. The approach path is slippery in wet weather and after snow.

Safety

The monastery sits on a promontory with steep, largely unguarded drops into the gorge, and the paving and forest path are slippery when wet. Keep children close to the terrace edge.

Public transport

No dedicated service is documented. In practice this is reached by car or taxi, usually combined with Gelati.

Accessibility

A steep, uneven approach on a rock promontory with steps and thresholds. There is no published accessibility provision, and the setting makes step-free access unlikely.

Where it is