Gates of Ganja, Medieval door at Gelati Monastery, Georgia

The Gates of Ganja is a medieval cast iron door now set into the wall of Gelati Monastery in Georgia. Only one half of the original door survives, and it is covered with stamped patterns and ornaments made through careful metalworking.

The gate originally came from the city of Ganja in Azerbaijan, and King Demetrius I brought it to Georgia in 1139 after an earthquake struck the city. It had been made for the Shaddadids, a medieval Islamic dynasty that ruled in that region.

The surviving half carries a Kufi Arabic inscription naming the smith Ibrahim ibn Osman and the date 1063, made on the order of Shaddadid ruler Shavur I. Georgian tradition presents the gate as war booty, while Azerbaijani sources note Demetrius I seized it during the 1139 earthquake. Georgian inscriptions were later added at Gelati.

The gate is set into the wall of Gelati Monastery and is easy to spot, as it sits directly across from the tomb of King David IV. It is best seen up close, so taking a moment to stop and look at the surface details is worthwhile.

The surviving half is not the only piece of the original set: in 2000 the scholar Rafael Ahmadov found remains of the Ganja gates in the old city ruins, and the Ganja Regional Science Centre later reassembled and restored one of the six gates, 3.70 m high and 3.40 m wide, with 56 cast-iron plates joined by crossbars, set up on the Ganja–Baku road.