# Ubisa Monastery
- URL: https://explore-georgia.ge/en/places/ubisa-monastery
- Type: place to visit
- Region: Imereti
- Coordinates: 42.0997, 43.2282

The monastery of St George at Ubisa stands in Kharagauli Municipality north-east of the village of Ubisi in the valley of the Dzirula, 25 kilometres from Kharagauli and 400 metres from the Tbilisi–Kutaisi highway. The core of the complex is the main church of hall type raised in the centre of the wall, with annexes on the south, west and north, which Vakhtang Beridze describes as a two-nave basilica; beside it rises the four-storey tower-pillar, built of shirimi stone and come down to us unaltered: on the ground floor was a storeroom of 2.2 by 2.2 metres with deep cupboards, on the second a living room of 2.55 by 3 metres with a large fireplace, cupboards and a privy, lit by three windows and a wide door, up a stone stair a prayer and working room of 3.05 by 3.3 metres with three windows, deep niches for manuscripts and a wooden balcony looking onto the main church, and at the top a defensive storey with machicolations. The tower's inscription reads: "to me, Simon Chkondideli, wretched in soul, it was granted by God to build this monastery and this pillar in the reign of Demetre, king of kings, son of the great King David, chronicon 361", the year 1141, and scholars suppose that Simon Chkondideli spent his last years on this pillar; it does not resemble the dwellings of the early stylites. Around the church are fragments of the twelfth-century defensive wall and other buildings, and across the Dzirula, on the hill of Kinkibouri, ruins with kvevri of 100–200 poods in which, by village tradition, stores of water and wine were kept.

The church was painted in the fourteenth century in the reign of Giorgi the Brilliant, and its wall painting is the only fully preserved cycle of the Palaiologan renaissance (1261–1453) in Georgia: by Shalva Amiranashvili's research it is the work of the painter Damiane, in Vakhtang Beridze's view of his ward and pupil Gerasime. The church holds compositions of all the feasts of the Lord, the Annunciation, the Entry into Jerusalem, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Baptism, and among them the frescoes of "St George of Ubisa" and the "Last Supper" stand out; for centuries books were copied in the monastery and schools of metalwork and icon painting worked here. Today Ubisa is a working monastery of monks, known for the honey of its brethren.

## History

The monastic complex of Ubisa was founded in the ninth century, when, after liberation from Arab rule, monasteries and schools were being built across Georgia: Giorgi Merchule relates that Gregory of Khandzta, with his pupils Christopher and Theodore, built a monastery in Margveti in the domain of Demetre, king of the Abkhazians, "and called its name Ube, and set as its abbot a certain Hilarion, a faithful old man come from Jerusalem". The church was studied at different times by Marie Brosset, Simon Gorgadze (1911), Ekvtime Takaishvili, Shalva Amiranashvili, Vakhtang Beridze and René Schmerling, and opinion on its date divides in two: by Schmerling's study of 1954 the main church belongs to the turn of the ninth and tenth centuries, while Amiranashvili dates it to the twelfth by the tower inscription of 1141. The tower was built in 1141 under Demetre I by Simon Chkondideli, and in 1969 Vakhtang Tsintsadze devoted a special study to it; in the twelfth century too the monastery was ringed with a defensive wall, and by a folk verse Queen Tamar greatly loved and embellished the monastery of Ubisa.

In the fourteenth century, in the reign of Giorgi V the Brilliant, the church was painted, a fresco cycle executed under the influence of the Byzantine Palaiologan renaissance and the only complete monument of that age in Georgia. For centuries manuscripts were copied at Ubisa and schools of metalwork and icon painting worked here; in the Soviet period the monastery was closed, and after independence the house of monks was restored.

## Visit info

Ubisa is in Kharagauli municipality, 400 metres from the Tbilisi–Kutaisi highway, about an hour by car from Kutaisi and three from Tbilisi; parking is in front of the wall. The monastery is in use and open by day, entry is free and the dress code applies; ask the monks before taking photographs in the church. The house is known for the honey made by its monks.

## Tips

The eyes need to adjust to the frescoes, so wait a few minutes after entering. In Damiane's painting look for the Last Supper, where vegetables and Georgian bread lie on the table and the master's name is written on the corner of the table; nearby are scenes from the life of St George. Walk round the tower-pillar outside as well. On the Tbilisi–Kutaisi road this is one of the stops most worth making.

## Safety

This is a working monastery: the dress code is kept, the frescoes are not touched and no photographs are taken during services. Crossing the highway on foot is dangerous, so use the turning; the tower-pillar may not be climbed.

## Sources

- [Ubisa Monastery — Georgian Wikipedia](https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/უბისის_მონასტერი)
- [Ubisi — English Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubisi)
- [Ubisi — Russian Wikipedia](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Убиси)
- [Ubisa Monastery — Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7876563)

## This page in other languages

- [ქართული](https://explore-georgia.ge/ka/adgilebi/ubisis-monasteri)
- [Русский](https://explore-georgia.ge/ru/mesta/monastyr-ubisi)