Pitareti Monastery

Pitareti (Georgian ფიტარეთი ) is a Georgian Orthodox monastery in the Georgian region of Lower Kartli, in the municipality Tetri Zqaro, in Kzia Valley. It is located southwest of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, 26 kilometers southwest of the city Tetri Zqaro.

The Pitareti Monastery consists of the Theotokos Church, the bell tower, the ruined wall and several smaller monastic buildings. The main church of the monastery was built at the beginning of the 13th century by the Georgian King Giorgi IV Lasha. The figure corresponds to the present canon of a Georgian domed church. The church of the monastery Pitareti similar stylistically to the churches from the 12th - 13th Century, the Betania, Kwatachewi, Timotessubani. The facades are decorated with ornaments and accented with niches and dormers. The entire interior of the church was once decorated with frescoes, of which only fragments are available today.

The monastery became the property and grave lay the noble Georgian family Katschibadse - Baratashvili, since 1536 its sidelines, the princes Orbelischwili.