The ruins of the church of the Raising of Lazarus lie on a hilltop northwest of the Gelati railway station, not far from Motsameta. Sources place the building in the span from the 10th to the 15th century.
Restoration work is under way on the site at present: the walls of the small hall have been raised to about a metre. The church is ringed by a single step plinth some forty centimetres high, and with the plinth the building measures roughly five and a half by seven and a half metres.
On the east the hall ends in a semicircular apse with a small niche in its southeastern part. The entrances are cut in the west and south walls, the altar is raised by a step with a solea before it, a single pilaster stands at the middle of each long wall, and a low bench runs along the walls inside. The plinth is built of small roughly worked stone and the upper walls of cleanly hewn blocks, while some of the architectural details lie around the church.
💡 Tip
- Ruins on a hilltop with restoration under way
- The walls have been raised to about a metre and the plinth survives in full
- Architectural details lie around the building
🚗 Getting there
- Motsameta village, Imereti
- The Build Route button will take you to the spot
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