Zarzma Monastery

Zarzma is the principal monastery of the western corner of Samtskhe, above Adigeni in the Kvabliani valley, at about 1,250 metres on the line where forest gives way to hay meadow.

Tradition places its foundation in the 9th century by St Serapion of Zarzma. His Life was written in the 10th century by Basil of Zarzma, and the text is a significant work of Georgian hagiography: it is unusual to know a monastery's founding story from a source so close to the event.

The church of the Transfiguration standing today dates from the early 14th century and was built under the patronage of Beka Jaqeli, atabeg of Samtskhe. It is a domed cross-plan building with a clean, almost severe stone exterior. Inside are wall paintings of the 14th to 16th centuries, among them portraits of the Jaqeli family, the people who governed this province for more than two hundred years.

In the yard stands a separate bell tower, one of the earliest surviving in Georgia, dating from the 14th century and carrying rich carving around its openings. Many visitors remember it better than the church itself.

A Transfiguration icon of the late 9th century that came from Zarzma is now in the Georgian National Museum, among the oldest surviving works of Georgian icon painting.

The look of the valley today goes back to one specific date. In 1944 the Muslim Meskhetians were deported from the Kvabliani valley and dozens of villages emptied in a single night; the district was later resettled with families from Imereti, Racha and Adjara. That is why old stone houses and much newer village architecture stand side by side along the road.

The monastery emptied during the Ottoman centuries and was only re-established around the turn of the 20th century; it is active again today. The place is very quiet. Almost none of the traffic that reaches Akhaltsikhe comes this far, and even at weekends you are often alone in the yard.