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 remained one of the main cultural and enlightening centers in old Georgia. It had an Academy which employed 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 Ioann Petritsi and Arsen Ikaltoeli .
Due to the extensive enlightening work carried out by the Gelati Academy, people of the time used to call it "a new Hellas", "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).
See also
Adapted from the Wikinfo article Gelati Monastery by Levan Urushadze, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
