Alaverdi Monastery

Alaverdi cathedral was built in the first half of the eleventh century on the open plain of Kakheti with the wall of the Caucasus behind it, and at around fifty metres it was for centuries the tallest church in Georgia. It stands inside a walled monastic enclosure with a gate, refectory and cellar, and the scale is what registers first: a very tall, very plain interior with almost no decoration, lit from the drum, so the space does the work. The monastery has made wine here since the eleventh century, and its cellar continues, fermenting in qvevri, the buried clay vessels used in Georgia for thousands of years. The autumn Alaverdoba festival is centred on the site.

What you actually see

• A fifty-metre eleventh-century cathedral - for centuries the tallest in the country.
• A plain, very tall interior - light from the drum in an unadorned space.
• The monastery qvevri cellar - winemaking here since the eleventh century.
• The Caucasus wall behind - the mountains beyond the plain.

When to go

April to October; September and October bring the harvest and the Alaverdoba festival. Two hours. Modest dress is required and robes are lent at the gate.

Honest expectations

It is a working monastery with strict dress rules and no photography inside. The cathedral has been restored repeatedly and little original painting survives. Tour groups arrive in numbers. The cellar visit needs arranging separately.

Nearby

Telavi is south-east; Ikalto lies between them.