Nekresi Monastery

Nekresi (Georgian: ნეკრესი) is a historical and archaeological complex in eastern Georgia, located in the Kakheti region between the town of Kvareli and the village of Shilda at the foot of the Greater Caucasus Mountains. This place is home to the active Nekresi Monastery, founded in the 6th century. Nekresi occupies a plain with arable lands and forested slopes at the foot of the southernmost branch of the Greater Caucasus range, between the Duruji and Tselt rivers. In the past, the busiest part of the city stretched for 1.5 km between two hills: Nazvrevi (literally "hill of former vineyards") to the east and Samarhebis-Seri ("hill of burials") to the west. The Nekresi Monastery complex includes a three-church basilica of the Dormition of the Mother of God and a burial chapel, both built in the 6th century, the Church of Archangel Michael, erected in the 8th or 9th century, a 9th-century episcopal palace, a 12th-century refectory, a 16th-century defensive tower, and the ruins of warehouses and other auxiliary structures.