Church · Poti, Poti, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti
Poti Cathedral
ფოთის საკათედრო ტაძარი · Poti Soboro Cathedral
Poti's neo-Byzantine cathedral in the city park on the left bank of the Rioni, a scaled-down recreation of Hagia Sophia completed in 1907 with its dome built entirely in reinforced concrete.
Where it is
42.1422, 41.6747
Why go
No other church in Georgia is built in this style, and that is the reason to stop. Mayor Niko Nikoladze had put forward a design in the Georgian church tradition, but the city authorities chose Byzantine, and the architects Alexander Zelenko and Robert Marfeld carried it out on François Hennebique's reinforced-concrete system. The park around it was once the site of an Ottoman fortress: Nikoladze's tower rises on part of the old foundations, and a statue of Alexandre Dumas, who attended the opening of Poti's port, stands nearby. Kolkheti National Park's boat tours leave from the city's Maltakva district.
Near Poti Cathedral
Monastery
Khobi Monastery
Also known as Nojikhevi Monastery, this 13th–14th-century complex just north of the town of Khobi kept a robe venerated as the Virgin Mary's in a silver reliquary until Soviet rule, after which its relics went to the museum in Zugdidi.
29 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Museum
Ozurgeti History Museum
The regional history and ethnography museum of Guria in Ozurgeti, holding finds from the ruined ancient city of Vashnari alongside Colchian Bronze Age tools and ancient coinage.
37 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Shemokmedi Monastery
A walled monastery beside the Bzhuzhi River in the Guria village of Shemokmedi, where Prince Vakhtang I Gurieli built the domed 'Zarzma' church in the 16th century for the Transfiguration icon brought from Zarzma Monastery.
41 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Museum
Dadiani Palaces Historical and Architectural Museum
The former residence of the Dadiani rulers of Samegrelo in central Zugdidi: two palaces opened as a museum in 1921, with collections of Christian art, archaeology and manuscripts and a set of Napoleon memorabilia.
44 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ