Gelati

Gelati, a Georgian monastery in Russian Transcaucasia, in the government of Kutais, 11 m. E. of the town of Kutais, standing on a rocky spur (705 ft. above sea-level) in the valley of the Rion. It was founded in 1109 by the Georgian king David the Renovator. The principal church, a sandstone cathedral, dates from the end of the preceding century, and contains the royal crown of the former Georgian kingdom of Imeretia, besides ancient MSS., ecclesiological furniture, and fresco portraits of the kings of Imeretia. Here also, in a separate chapel, is the tomb of David the Renovator (1089-1125) and part of the iron gate of the town of Ganja (now Elisavetpol), which that monarch brought away as a trophy of his capture of the place.

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