Works on Gelati Monastery bring international standards to site (VIDEO)

The Gelati Monastery, one of Georgia’s major cultural heritage sites, is undergoing efforts to place it among monuments enjoying tourist infrastructure and support of highest quality.

Major restoration and conservation works, ongoing for years at the UNESCO World Heritage List monument, are ensuring preservation of the building’s construction, while its surrounding area is being renovated.

The National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia today released a short video featuring the 12th century monastery under specialist work.

The state agency said groups of architects and restoration experts were involved in the years-long process supported by World Bank, the Embassy of the United States in Georgia and the Municipal Development Fund of Georgia.

Particular aspects of the work include conservation of the stone material of the main monastery, while its roof structure is also under expert attention.

The overall project for the site also includes construction of a visitor centre in the area, to be placed within the encompassing Kutaisi Historical and Architectural Museum and Reserve.

The heritage agency said plans for restoring the structure of the Gelati building, conserving the stone material used in its construction and setting up the surrounding area’s infrastructure would place the monastery among "monuments of international standards”.

Various type of work has seen the main monastery and other buildings of the complex benefit from restoration and repair over the last decade.

These have included remains of the historical Gelati Academy of scientists and theologians, conservation of wall painting at the complex and establishing a new and widened buffer zone around the building that now includes other historical monuments.

Located outside the western Georgian city of Kutaisi, Gelati is noted by the UNESCO for representing "the flowering of medieval architecture in Georgia".

Initial construction of its main buildings was carried out in 1106 during the reign of David IV of Georgia, also known as David the Builder. Further additions were made to the monastery from 12th-17th century.

Framed with a wall, the yard of the monument is the place where most of Georgia's historical monarchs, including the king who oversaw its construction, are buried.

Further signifying its status for the country, the Gelati uniquely enjoyed full autonomy in governance during the medieval era, with a special envoy from the king present at the monastery.

Added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994, Gelati shared the spot in the roster along with the nearby Bagrati Cathedral until 2010, when government-led restoration works were initiated in defiance of UNESCO regulations and warnings on "irreversible interventions carried out on the site".

The works rendered the two monuments incompatible with remaining in the list and were moved to the index of endangered sites around the world.

As a result of work carried out by the current Georgian government on Gelati since 2013 to ensure its return to the World Heritage List, the monastery found its place back in the world heritage index last year, as an individual entry.