Mravaltskaro Cave Monastery (David Gareja)
Mravaltskaro Monastery (Georgian: გარეჯის მრავალწყაროს მონასტერი) is one of the cave monastery complexes of David Gareja, carved into the slope of a white cliff in the northern part of the Gareja desert. At first it was called “Tetri Senakebi” (White Cauldrons) (Georgian: თეთრი სენაკები), later it was called “Mravaltskaro” because of the springs near the complex. The complex, founded in the 9th century, was somehow abandoned in the 13th century. The monastery complex consists of 5 rock-cut churches, senaki and other outbuildings necessary for monastic life. The churches that are part of the monastery complex are carved in two tiers into the mountainside.
The dome of one of the churches in the monastery complex, created from stepped, cylindrical volumes, is absolutely unique and has no analogues either in Georgia or abroad. The monastery stands out with its paintings and scratched inscriptions. In one of the churches of the complex there is a painting of the 9th century, a beautiful fresco of the Virgin Mary, with the image of the Holy Mothers and the oldest inscription among the monastery complexes of David Gareja, dated – September 8, 851. Next to the monastery there is a fence made of dry stacks of boulders. It is difficult to say to what period this archaeological monument belongs: Christian or pre-Christian. On the crest of the ridge, on the southern slope of which the monastery is located, a settlement of the Bronze Age was discovered.
Gareji Desert (Georgian: გარეჯის უდაბნო), Sagarejo Municipality (Georgian: საგარეჯოს მუნიციპალიტეტი)
