Alaverdi Monastery, Orthodox monastery in Akhmeta, Georgia

Alaverdi Monastery is a walled complex in the Alazani Valley, 20 km from Telavi. Its Cathedral of St George, built in the 11th century, measures 41.7 by 26.4 metres and rises over 50 metres. The grounds include a three-storey palace, a bell tower, a wine cellar and a bathhouse. The cathedral's facade is faced with large shirim stone blocks and retains fragments of blue-glazed roof tiles.

Joseph Alaverdeli, one of the twelve Assyrian fathers, founded the monastery in the mid-6th century on a former pagan site dedicated to the Moon. In the first quarter of the 11th century King Kvirike III of Kakheti built the Cathedral of Saint George on the spot of an older small church. From that century it served as a bishop's seat and the burial vault of the Kakhetian royal house. Queen Tamar began restoration after the 1742 earthquake, completed by Erekle II.

Alaverdi is the centre of Alaverdoba, an annual religious celebration held in the monastery grounds. The monastery also has its own winery, Alaverdi Monastery Cellar, dated to between the 10th and 12th centuries, and the monks still make wine there. Georgian writers and calligraphers, among them Philip Alaverdeli and Nikifore Irbakhi, worked at the monastery.

The monastery is accessible year-round and features both indoor museum spaces and outdoor grounds to explore at your own pace. Visitors should wear modest clothing and be prepared for uneven terrain on the site.

The monastery stands in the heart of what is described as the world's oldest wine region, and its cellar has been dated to between the 10th and 12th centuries. The monks still make their own wine, sold under the name Alaverdi Monastery Cellar. The cellar is among the service buildings inside the fortified wall.