Green Monastery (The Chitakhevi St. George's Monastery) is located in a picturesque place in the Borjomi valley. People called it lovingly “The Green Monastery”, because all the trees in the valley are of a special green color. The stones, with which the church is built, are also green, but some are dark and some are light.
I have visited Green monastery few times, and always have messed up with good photography - last time I visited it (October, 2016) - I was too lazy to switch lenses and ended up with telephoto photography.
Alley leading to the Green Monastery
Make sure you switch your lenses before approaching closer - as to make an ideal photography - you should composite both the tower and church building into one frame - due to my laziness I ended up with two separate images.
Church building
Scientists believe that the church was built by Christopher and Theodore, the disciples of the famous Georgian figure, St. Gregory Khandzteli.
In the 16th century, during the invasions of Shah Thamaz, this monastery was raided. During this time dozens of monks were killed or tortured. The blood which remained on the stones thrown into the river Chitakhevi, belong to the monks killed in the 16thcentury. Bloody stones are spread along almost the entire length of the river running through the territory of the monastery.
Bell tower
Later, a few meters away from the church, there was built a bell tower. The bell tower is two-storey. The first floor is a chapel, and the second floor is a richly carved pavilion. On the west surface area, below the arch, there is placed the relief of St. George fighting a whale. You can see scary skulls and bones if you will enter the tower building.
Over the centuries, the divine service was no longer performed at the church. In the early 80s of the past century the church was rehabilitated. In 2002, after many centuries, the monastery was restored.
Used resources: Chitakhevi St. George's Monastery, the same Green Monastery
