Sapara Monastery, Orthodox monastery in Samtskhe-Javakheti, Georgia

Sapara Monastery occupies a narrow ledge on a mountain slope near the village of Ghreli, with buildings set at different levels on either side of the path from the entrance to the main church. St Saba's Church stands on the edge of a vertical cliff, its dome pierced by sixteen windows on the drum, eight real and eight blind. The Assumption Church, the oldest building, shows two construction layers, and the bell tower rises a few metres off the path.

Sapara existed by at least the 9th century. At the end of the 13th century it passed to the Jakeli family: Sargis Jakeli took monastic vows as Saba, and his son Beka had St Saba's Church built, with the architect Peresasdze named on the portal. Ottoman expansion emptied the monastery around 1600, and its icons, including that of St Saba, were moved to Chkhari and Ardeti.

The name Sapara comes from the Georgian word for "shelter." Sargis Jakeli took monastic vows as Saba, and his son Beka named the main church after him. On the south wall, St. Saba is painted beside the Jakeli rulers Sargis I, Beka I, Sargis II and Kvarkvare. The church's green stone iconostasis, carved with scenes such as the Annunciation, is now kept in the Museum of Fine Arts in Tbilisi.

The complex occupies a narrow strip on a mountain slope, with buildings set at different levels on either side of the path from the entrance up to the main church. The road from Akhaltsikhe ends at the rocky ravine by the entrance gate, where the small chapel of St Stephen stands. Above the monastery, to the west, the ruins of an old fortress remain, and stretches of its wall are still visible to the north and west.

The bell tower is among the oldest in Georgia. Its cubic ground floor holds depictions of the Lasuridze family and served as their tomb, with the belfry on the floor above. Look for the carved cross with two medallions bearing birds on the tympanum of the northern portal of St. Saba's Church.