Sapara Monastery (Safara) (Region of Samtskhe-Javakheti)
Sapara Monastery (Safara) (Georgian: საფარоს მონასტერი) – The medieval Georgian monastery, the name of which literally translates as “sheltered”. The monastery complex is located on one of the mountain peaks in a gorge, as if hidden from prying eyes by a fluffy forest. The complex consists of several buildings erected at different times. The central place among them is occupied by the Temple of St. Saba (Georgian: წმინდა საბა). In addition to it, several functioning and an abandoned church have survived. Ruins of fortifications, residential buildings, palaces, towers, tents and buildings of various purposes. These buildings are located at different heights of the mountain slope. Among the buildings of the Safar ensemble that have survived to this day, the most ancient is the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built in the 10th century.
To build a monastery complex in a ravine with a complex relief, the builders created a special site and considered the territory adjacent to the already existing Assumption Church to be a favorable place for it. That is why the Church of St. Saba is directly attached to the old church. From an architectural point of view, the Church of St. Saba stands at the last and highest stage of development of central-domed churches of the middle feudal period. It clearly shows the grandeur of Georgian church architecture. The Sapara Monastery received special fame thanks to the miraculously preserved frescoes of the 15th century in the Church of St. Saba. An interesting fact is that all the roofs and domes of the buildings of the Sapara Monastery are made of stone slabs, and not covered with tiles, as local builders usually did. Thanks to an atypical technology, the ancient buildings of the Sapara Monastery have survived to this day in their original form and in good condition.
Greli village (Georgian: სოფელი ღრელი), Municipality of Akhaltsikhe (Georg: ახალციხის მუნიციპალიტეტი)