Pitareti Monastery

Pitareti is protected twice over: first by forest, then by walls. The monastery stands in Tetritskaro municipality above the Khrami canyon, in oak woodland, and the last stretch of road is gravel — which is precisely why so few people are here.

The church was built between 1213 and 1222 by Kavtar Kachibadze, a noble of the royal court. These are the same decades that produced Tsughrughasheni, and both belong to a single aesthetic. The east facade and the drum are covered in ornament: geometric interlace, vine scrolls, stylised animals and carved crosses. The stone is good and the cutting deep enough that details remain crisp after eight centuries.

Around the church runs a fortified enclosure of the 17th and 18th centuries, with towers and a gate. That is a late addition, from the period when raiding from the North Caucasus made monasteries defend themselves. You can walk sections of the wall, and the gorge shows well from the top.

Inside the church almost no painting survives, and the space is tall and cold. The monastery is active but the community is small. In summer the forest keeps the site shaded and cool; in October the oak and hornbeam turn and this is the best time to come. In winter the road is often impassable through snow and mud.