Palace of Geguti

The Geguti Palace is a monument of Georgian architecture and a secular building located 7 km south of Kutaisi, on the expansive field of the left bank of the Rioni River. The earliest historical mention of the Geguti Palace dates back to the 12th century. According to the chronicler, the palace was a royal "throne hall". It was one of the residences of Georgian Kings. It was here that King George III declared Tamar as co-ruler. After the disintegration of the Kingdom of Georgia in the 15th century, Geguti Palace became one of the main royal palaces of the Kings of Imereti.

The palace is generally depicted on a 1737 map of Georgia, and the first detailed description and information is found in the work of Dubois de Montperreux. According to him, after the abolition of the Kingdom of Imereti, the palace began to deteriorate, a process that stopped with a decree from Emperor Alexander I during his visit to Imereti in 1823. In 1953 and the following years, the monument was restored (architect V. Tsintsadze). During the restoration works between 1953 and 1956, three main chronological layers of the palace's construction were revealed (the ruins cover more than 2000 m²). The oldest part is the 8th-9th century fireplace room (the so-called "hunting house"). In the 12th century, during the reign of George III, a large hall was built from bricks, which stands on a high, roughly hewn stone base nearly three meters tall. The extensive hall of the kings is crowned with a dome with a diameter of 14 meters. The main hall is accompanied by various types of residential and utility rooms (bedrooms, treasure room, bathhouse, kitchen, etc.). The latest layer consists of a two-story annex from the 13th or 14th century on the west side and the palace church. The entire building is surrounded by a defensive wall reinforced with massive pillars from the exterior.

Literature: წილოსანი ვ., გეგუთი. ციხე-დარბაზი, კრ.: შოთა რუსთაველის ეპოქის მატერიალური კულტურა, თბ., 1938.

T. Beradze

I. Tsitsishvili