Monday night we took a field trip (yeah! we get to leave the building) to the Monastery Gelati which is up in the hills outside of Kutaisi.
Monastery Gelati
We took two buses to get up there, and as always, the drive was very adventureful. Narrow roads, cars passing buses on blind turns, buses racing each other. Yeah!
We left after dinner and by the time we got up to the Monastery it was dark out. The Monastery was lit by one very powerful light that gave it a very cool, eery, look. Unfortunately, even with the light, it was so dark that pictures were not turning out. So no pictures for you!
We went inside the Monastery and vespers was still going on. The inside had no light except for candles being used to read the manuscripts. It was a very cool experience to be in this Monastery, at night, with candles, listening to vespers. The service lasted about another 10-20 minutes and I stood there listening. The coolest part was, from where I was standing, one of the monks was back lit by a candle so I just saw a monk silhouette singing. I wish I had a tripod so I could have taken a picture. It was an awesome sight.
Unfortunately, a lot of the other volunteers did not stay still. Instead they walked around taking pictures and looking at stuff. Luckily only one person’s flash went off, but it was still annoying. And if it was annoying for me, I can’t imagine what the monks were thinking. Stoopid Amerikans!
I went back outside and wondered the dark grounds. I happened to walk by Nino and overheard her telling someone how frustrated she was that every other time she has taken groups here the lights have been on but this time there were no lights. I personally thought it provided a cool experience that hardly any one gets to experience.
I saw a group of people heading into another building so I decided to join them. Turns out that one of our intercultural teachers was giving a little private tour. He was using his blackberry as a flashlight and it dawned on me that the cell phones we were given all had flashlights in them, so I turned mine on.
In this building is the tomb of David the Builder, the king that united all of Georgia. He had himself buried in the entrance to the building so he could feel everyone walk over him. There were some other items in the building but I did not hear what they were for I was telling people that came in after us what they were standing on.
We toured the grounds a bit more but there was not much else to see.
Overall, a great experience.
Some official details about the Monastery:
The Monastery of the Virgin – Gelati near Kutaisi (Imereti region of Western Georgia) was founded by the King of Georgia David the Builder (1089-1125) in 1106.
The Gelati Monastery for a long time was one of the main cultural and intellectual centers in Georgia. It had an Academy which employed some of the most celebrated Georgian scientists, theologians and philosophers, many of whom had previously been active at various orthodox monasteries abroad or at the Mangan Academy in Constantinople. Among the scientists were such celebrated scholars as Ioane Petritsi and Arsen Ikaltoeli.
Due to the extensive work carried out by the Gelati Academy, people of the time called it “a new Hellas” and “a second Athos”.
The Gelati Monastery has preserved a great number of murals and manuscripts dating back to the 12th-17th centuries.
In Gelati is buried one of the greatest Georgian kings, David the Builder (Davit Agmashenebeli in Georgian).