Troglodyte Monastery of Mravaltskaro (David Gareja)
Mravaltskaro Monastery (Georg. გარეჯის მრავალწყაროს მონასტერი) – one of the cave monastic complexes of David Gareja, carved on the slope of a white rock in the northern part of the Gareja desert. At first it was called “Tetri Senakebi” (White cells) (Georg. თეთრი სენაკები), later it was called “Mravaltskaro” because of the springs next to the complex. The complex, founded in the 9th century, was somehow abandoned in the 13th century. The monastery complex consists of 5 churches carved into the rock, cells and other outbuildings necessary for monastic life.
The churches included in the monastery complex are carved in two tiers on the mountainside. The dome, created from the stepped, cylindrical volumes of one of the churches included in the monastery complex, is completely unique and has no analogues either in Georgia or abroad. The monastery stands out with its paintings and scrawled inscriptions. In one of the churches of the complex there is a painting of the 9th century, a beautiful fresco of the Virgin, depicting the Holy Mothers and the oldest dated inscription among complexes of David Gareja, 8 September 851.
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