Church of the Virgin (Cathedral of Gelati)

The Church of the Virgin is the main cathedral at Gelati Monastery, a large 12th-century Georgian Orthodox church that contains the finest medieval mosaics in Georgia. The central apse holds a mosaic of the Virgin with Archangels dating from the 12th century — gold-backed, remarkably intact, and considered one of the great works of Byzantine-influenced Georgian art.

The interior walls are covered in frescoes from several centuries, layered and overlapping in the way of a building that has been continuously used and continuously decorated since 1106. The effect is richly complex: images in different styles and states of preservation share the same walls, creating a visual record of Georgian religious art spanning nine centuries.

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A story
King David IV, who founded Gelati and chose to be buried at the monastery entrance so that all entering would walk over his grave, is known in Georgian history as 'David the Builder.' His humility in selecting the threshold as his resting place — rather than a place of honour inside the church — was deliberate: he wanted every monk, pilgrim, and visitor to walk over him forever.