Zarzma Monastery

Zarzma stands in a green mountain valley in Adigeni, a monastery whose origins are traced to the ninth century and whose surviving main church was built in the early fourteenth, a domed cross-in-square building with carved stone detail and a separate bell tower of the same period standing beside it. Inside is a fresco cycle of the fourteenth century, damaged in places but substantial, including a well-known depiction of the Transfiguration. The monastery was abandoned for long periods and is now active again. It sits below wooded slopes on the road that climbs toward Abastumani, and it is one of the quieter medieval sites in the south of the country.

History

The first church here was built by the monk Serapion of Zarzma, whose life was written by his pupil Basil of Zarzma, and the nobleman Giorgi Chorchaneli gave it villages and estates. The present church dates from the early 14th century, built for Beka I Jaqeli, Prince of Samtskhe, with a bell tower of the same period, while a late 10th-century Georgian inscription survives from the earlier monastery. After the Ottoman conquest later in the 16th century the monastery was abandoned and decayed until it was rebuilt around the turn of the 20th century by V. F. Svin'in and A. S. Slavtsev, losing some original features; it now houses a community of monks (Wikipedia, Zarzma Monastery).

What's there

• The fourteenth-century domed church - carved stone and a cross plan.
• A separate bell tower - built in the same period beside the church.
• Fresco cycles inside - fourteenth-century painting, damaged but extensive.
• The valley setting - wooded slopes above the monastery.

When to go

May to October; the valley road is difficult in snow. Two hours. Modest dress is required. It is a working monastery, so visits fit around services.

Before you go

Interiors are dark and frescoes are hard to see without time and patience. Photography inside is generally not permitted. There is little interpretation. Public transport up the valley is infrequent.

Nearby

Abastumani is up the valley; Akhaltsikhe lies east.

Key facts