Written by Tika Bujiashvili, Nana Nadaraia
Tserakvi monastery is situated in the village Tseraqvi, Marneuli municipality, Kvemo Kartli. The village itself is quiet old and historical. The monastery is located 2.5 km away from the village, on the river Shulaveri (khrami tributary). Mikheil Javakhishvili, one of the top twentieth Georgian writer, was born in Tseraqvi. There is his museum too.
Not far from the Tseraqvi monastery, if you go on walking ahead, at about half hour walk, in the forest you will find st. Nikoloz church.
40-50 m from the church we found ruins of another church. Unfortunately, as this region isn’t studied well, we can’t say anything about the ruins. There you will see mossy stones, which make you think that the place was fenced.
Near the place there is a castle, where, as we were told, Arsena Odzelashvili used to hide. Locals call the castle Arsena’s castle.
And, Tseraqvi monastery is built near the forest. Main building is a hall type church of Virgin Mary. The monastery has a stone fence. There are two other churches in the territory of the monastery- Archangel Michael’s and st.George’s churches. There are also cells, a dining room and a wine cellar.
On the wall of St. Mary’s Church there is Asomtavruli inscription. It dates to XIII century. The inscription says that the church was reconstructed by Panaskerteli. So we can say that the church might be built earlier.
In 2004-2010 restoration works were carried out at the Tserakvi monastery. Some buildings were built there. The monastery belongs to the diocese of Marneuli.
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