Kintsvisi Monastery

Kintsvisi Monastery stands on a forested mountain slope in the Dzama valley, about 10 km from the town of Kareli. Its main church, dedicated to St Nicholas, dates from the early 13th century, the height of Georgia's Golden Age, and its frescoes are among the finest of that period. On the north wall is a portrait of Queen Tamar with her father Giorgi III and her son Giorgi IV Lasha, one of the few surviving portraits of the queen painted in her lifetime.

Above the royal figures, between two windows, is the Kintsvisi Archangel, a seated angel from the Resurrection scene pointing to the empty tomb, often reproduced as an emblem of Georgian medieval painting. The complex also includes the small Church of St George, the ruined Church of St Mary from the 10th to 11th centuries, and a bell tower. It is an active monastery that sees few visitors.

The main church of St Nicholas was built in the early 13th century, and its murals date from before 1205, during Queen Tamar's reign. In the 15th century the local prince Zaza Panaskerteli had the narthex rebuilt and painted, and his portrait is there. The oldest building, the Church of St Mary, dates from the 10th to 11th centuries and survives mainly as an apse with frescoes. A bell tower is built into the northern wall.