Tiri Monastery, A monastery in Tskhinvali, Georgia

Tiri Monastery is a Georgian Orthodox complex near the village of Monasteri, 9 km northwest of Tskhinvali. Its main church, the Nativity of the Theotokos, measures 15.7 × 8.8 m and is a rectangular hall church of dressed basalt blocks dated to the latter half of the 13th century. A two-storey bell-tower stands at its west side, and the grounds also hold a ruined refectory, rock-cut cells and a circuit wall.

The monastery was established in the 13th century during Georgia's period as a strong independent kingdom and served as a place of prayer for monks. A bell tower was added at the end of the 14th century, and over time it passed under the control of different noble families whose names remain carved in stone inscriptions within the church.

The monastery's name comes from the Tiri valley, a tributary of the Greater Liakhvi. Three Georgian stone inscriptions survive on the outer walls: two in asomtavruli on the north and south annexes, and one on the bell-tower architrave naming the Tavkhelisdze family. A 1682 mkhedruli text in the north crypt records the Taktakidze family, including Bishop Phillip of Ruisi.

The monastery lies in the Tiri valley, a tributary of the Greater Liakhvi, 9 km northwest of Tskhinvali near the village of Monasteri. Since the 2008 war the area has been under Russian and South Ossetian control, and Georgian clergy and parishioners lost access to the church. Check the current crossing and access situation before travelling. In 2016 Georgia reported to the UN that humidity and water infiltration threatened the building.

A marble tombstone before the iconostasis marks the grave of Rostom, son of Prince Royal Vakhtang of Kartli, who died in 1689 or 1698. Beside it once stood the memorial of Erekle, son of Prince Giorgi Machabeli, killed fighting under King Erekle II at Erivan in 1777. The French scholar Marie-Félicité Brosset first published these epitaphs in 1850.