David Gareji
David Gareji is a complex of cave monasteries and one of the most important monastic centers and cultural-educational hubs of early medieval Georgia.
It is located in the rocky mountains of Gareja (Sagarejo Municipality), 60–70 km southeast of Tbilisi, in historical Kukheti. These monasteries are also known by the name “the Twelve Monasteries of the Gareja Ridge.”
The complex was founded in the first half of the 6th century by David, one of the Thirteen Assyrian Fathers, along with his disciple, Lukiane, a native of the area. They settled in a natural cave, which became the foundation of the first monastery – David’s Lavra. Over time, the number of monks grew. Due to the insufficiency of natural caves, intensive carving out of monks’ cells into the rock began, and the Church of the Transfiguration was carved out as well.
During David Garejeli’s lifetime, two monastic branches were separated from Lavra: Dodo’s Rka (founded by David’s disciple Dodo) and Natlismtsemeli (St. John the Baptist). Around the same period, monastic life also began in the Bertubani Monastery.
According to primary sources, Bubakar, a nobleman from the city of Rustavi, provided material support to David Gareji. At the time of David, the monastery belonged administratively to the Rustavi Principality and ecclesiastically to the Bishop of Rustavi.
From the time of Hilarion the Iberian (the Georgian) (822–875), major monastic construction began in David Gareji. Old churches were expanded and adorned; new temples were carved; comfortable residential and agricultural facilities were created; among other developments.
At the beginning of the 11th century, David Gareji became the property of the royal court of the Kingdom of Georgia. Bagrat III carried out extensive construction works in Natlismtsemeli.
In the second half of the 11th century, David Gareji suffered significant damage due to invasions by nomadic Seljuk Turks. In 1115, King David IV Aghmashenebeli liberated the city of Rustavi and after he regained control over the Kingdom of Kakheti (1104), David Gareji once again became royal property.
In 1265, the Mongol army of Berke Khan ravaged David Gareji and the surrounding villages. The situation was partially improved under Demetre II Tavdadebuli (the Devoted), who took special measures during his reign.
In the first half of the 14th century, under Giorgi V Brtskinvale (the Brilliant), David Gareji became a powerful political and economic force; senior monks and monastery abbots participated in the royal court and in managing the ecclesiastical affairs of the country.
However, in the last quarter of the 14th century, repeated invasions by Tamerlane (Timurlengi) led to the collapse of monastic life at David Gareji.
From the end of the 17th century, a period of political and cultural-economic revival began for David Gareji, which is associated with the leadership of Onopre Machutadze (1690–1736). During this time, the monastery acquired many new estates and regained old, previously lost properties. Churches, refectories, monks' cells, wine cellars, utility chambers were carved out; ward and towers were built, as well as defensive walls. Literary activity was renewed, and the library was enriched.
In the 18th century, David Gareji Monastery no longer belonged to the Patriarchate; it once again became a royal monastery. However, in 1772, 1791, 1851, and 1857, the monastery was plundered by Leks – some monks were taken captive, while others were killed.
The territory of the monastery's seigneury, referred to as “Sagarejo,” traditionally included the villages directly surrounding the monastery as well as those in the nearby Rustavi-Karai region. These were continuously connected with villages located along the banks of the Iori River and beyond the Tsiv-Gombori mountain range. However, due to constant invasions by foreign enemies, the monastery’s holdings gradually shrank. For example, by the time King Alexander I donated the monastery to Mtskheta, its estates in the vicinity and in the Rustavi-Karai area had already become devastated and desolate.
By the end of the 18th century, David Gareji’s reduced holdings included the villages of Akura, Zhati, Osiauri (one-tenth share), as well as individual serfs and peasants in Tbilisi and other locations. The monastery of David Gareji remained actively engaged in cultural and educational work. For centuries, it was a powerful literary, educational, and manuscript-producing center.
As a literary center, David Gareji especially flourished from the 17th century onward, reaching peak in the 18th century, when it was home to prominent intellectuals such as Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, Besarion (Baratashvil-Orbelishvili), Anton I, R. Eristavi, T. Gabashvili, Gabriel the Minor, and others.
The scribes of Gareji composed original works, copied manuscripts, and compiled collections of hagiographic writings, ascetic-mystical texts, and homiletic literature. The monasteries of David Gareji preserved an extensive and rich manuscript collection. There are the extensive cycles of frescoes depicting the lives of saints. Many portraits of historical figures have been preserved in the monastic murals, including those of ecclesiastical leaders.
After the annexation of Georgia by Russia in 1801, ecclesiastical reforms abolished the seigneury of David Gareji, turning it into a regular monastic institution. From the mid-19th century, the monastery’s immovable property was transferred to state ownership. In the 1920s, religious life at David Gareji came to a halt.
In 1924, the southern part of the David Gareji territory was transferred to the Azerbaijan SSR, resulting in Udabno, Bertubani, Tsintskaro, and the southern half of Chichkhituri falling outside the borders of the Georgian SSR.
At the end of the 1980s, monastic life was revived in David’s Lavra, and since 2000, religious activity has also resumed in Natlismtsemeli and Dodo’s Rka monasteries.
Literature: ა ბ რ ა მ ი შ ვ ი ლ ი გ., დავით გარეჯელის ციკლი ქართულ კედლის მხატვრობაში, თბ., 1972; დავითგარეჯის მონასტრები, ლავრა, უდაბნო, თბ., 2008; დავითგარეჯის მონასტრები, ნათლისმცემელი, ბერთუბანი, თბ., 2010; ვ ო ლ ს კ ა ი ა ა., დავით გარეჯის გამოქვაბული მონასტრების მოხატულობა, კრ.: კახეთის არქეოლოგიური ექსპედიციის შრომები, VIII. გარეჯი, თბ., 1988; თ ო დ უ ა თ., გარეჯა (მონასტერთა ლოკალიზაციისათვის), «ძეგლის მეგობარი», 1973, №31–32; ლ ო მ ი ნ ა ძ ე ბ., ქართული ფეოდალური ურთიერთობის ისტორიიდან (სენიორიები), [ტ.] 1, თბ., 1966; ს ხ ი რ ტ ლ ა ძ ე ზ., სამეფო კტიტორული პორტრეტი გარეჯის ნათლისმცემლის მონასტრის მთავარ ტაძარში, «საბჭოთა ხელოვნება», 1983, №11; А м и р а н а ш в и л и Ш. Я., История грузинской монументальной живописи, т. 1, Тб., 1957; В о л ь с к а я А. И., Росписи средневековых трапезных Грузии, Тб., 1974; Ч у б и н а ш в и л и Г. Н., Пещерные монастыри Давид-Гареджи, Тб., 1948; Ш е в я к о в а Т. С., Монументальная живопись раннего средневековья Грузии. Альбом, Тб., 1983.
G. Abramishvili
B. Lominadze
L. Menabde
D. Muskhelishvili
