Georgia’s David Gareji cave complex among world’s most beautiful places
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Georgia's unique David Gareji monastery cave complex has been selected by the National Geographic magazine among its "most wild and beautiful" places from across the world.
Earlier this week the famous travel magazine published on it's website a photo gallery of 17 places, ranging from Venezuela's Mount Roraima to Denmark's Faroe Islands and the Nile Valley in Egypt, as the most captivating places to visit.
Nestled in among these gems of international travel is the 6th Century AD David Gareji cave complex, situated at Georgia's south-eastern border with Azerbaijan.
David Gareji is a complex of 19 medieval cave monasteries. Considered masterpieces of Georgian art, the caves once housed nearly 5,000 monk cells."
One cave is still functioning as a monastery, and monks can sometimes be heard chanting in the eerie silence of the deserted steppe," said National Geographic.
David Gareji served as a centre of monastery activities and grew to incorporate an increasing number of cave monasteries in the area over centuries.
In the 12th Century Georgia's famous King David the Builder made David Gareji state property and supported its development but the unique place also suffered damage through invasions over the next two centuries.
Today the cave complex serves as one of Georgia's premier cultural tourism destinations along with the Vardzia cave city in the country's south and mountainous villages of the Caucasus range.
Fresh discovery from the late medieval era has given archaeologists a glimpse of life at the St David Lavra monument in the David Gareji cave monastery complex in Georgia's south-east.
Two historical monuments in Georgia, the Chiatura cable car system and David Gareji monastery complex, have been announced among endangered sites throughout Europe by Europe’s major cultural heritage organisation.
The David Gareji Monasteries and Hermitage, one of Georgia’s most cherished cultural heritage sites, has been included on a list of Europe’s seven most endangered monuments of this year, facilitating upcoming international efforts for its preservation.
Some of the unique Medieval frescoes at the David Gareji complex, one of Georgia’s major cultural heritage sites, have been vandalised by tourists in the country’s south-east.
One of Britain's leading newspapers The Guardian is promoting three types of tours of Georgia to its readers, which includes discovering the cobbled streets and hidden squares of old Tbilisi to the rock hewn monasteries at Vardzia and the mountains in Svaneti.
Blogger suggests must-see landmarks in Georgia
Georgia is the most beautiful country in the world, says a foreign blogger currently living in Georgia. Reinis Fischer published a blog post for foreign travelers willing to tour Georgia.
The David Gareji Monasteries and Hermitage, one of Georgia’s most revered sites of cultural heritage, is in focus of a delegation of European experts looking to safeguard the endangered monument.
European experts have published a report for rehabilitating David Gareji, one of the principal monuments of cultural heritage in Georgia, after it was named among Europe’s seven most endangered sites last year.