Gudarekhi Monastery

Gudarekhi is one of those places where you are usually alone. The complex stands in Tetritskaro municipality on a meadow below the wooded slopes of the Trialeti range. The village beside it is small and there is no tourist infrastructure of any kind.

The main church is dedicated to the Dormition and dates from the first half of the 13th century, the reign of Queen Rusudan. It is of ordinary size, built in well-cut stone with ornamented window surrounds; the decoration is restrained compared with Pitareti or Tsughrughasheni.

The most significant element is the bell tower, dated by inscription to 1278. It is among the earliest dated bell towers surviving in Georgia, and it matters because the free-standing bell tower arrived comparatively late in Georgian architecture — the type appears in the 13th century, and Gudarekhi stands near the start of that change.

Around these two buildings lie ruins: a refectory, service buildings, fragments of the enclosure wall, and gravestones half sunk in grass. Much of it survives only to foundation level and the upkeep is uneven. The view opens north over the Algeti valley and its forest. In June the meadow is full of flowers and in October the woods turn; in winter it is cold at 1,200 metres and the road is often under snow.