Geguti palace (Region of Imereti)
In historical sources, the Geguti Palace (Georg. გეგუთის სასახლე) dates from the VIII century. The palace is the only royal palace of the feudal period, the ruins of which have survived to this day. Geguti was the residence of the Georgian kings for a long time. Here passed the childhood, adolescence and several mature years of Queen Tamara. Probably, it was under these vaults that the first chapters of Shota Rustaveli’s poem “The Knight in the Panther’s Skin” were read. Archaeological excavations have established previously unknown details – there are layers in the palace that belong to the period of the reign of the father and grandfather of Queen Tamara – George III and David IV Agmashenebeli. It was then that it was established that the oldest room, with a fireplace, was from the 8th century. Around this room, a palace was later built. The next stage of research showed that under this material there are remains of an even older stone fortress. This fortress dates back to the 4th century.
Historically, the palace was square. In the center was a large hall, vaguely reminiscent of a cross-domed temple. The southern side of this cross is better preserved, so that the vault of the hall is visible – slightly pointed, in the Gothic style. This means that either the vault was rebuilt after the reign of Tamara, or under Tamara they already knew how to erect Gothic temple vaults. Around the hall there are about a dozen smaller rooms (bedroom, coin room, treasury, bathhouse …). There is a church to the east of the palace. In the center of the courtyard, under large plane trees that have survived to this day, there was a chardakhi – a throne with a canopy on four pillars.
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