Jumati Monastery

Jumati Monastery stands on a hill above the village of Dzirijumati in the Supsa valley, about 14 km from Ozurgeti. Dedicated to the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, it was one of the main religious and cultural centres of Guria, and some scholars believe it is older than Shemokmedi. The stone church has a square plan and wall paintings from the 16th to the 18th century, and the complex also includes a bell tower of 1904 and an enclosing wall.

Jumati was once famous for its treasury of icons and manuscripts. Its greatest relic, a gold icon of St George from the 11th or 12th century, was stolen in 1921, and two fragments are now in the Hermitage in St Petersburg. Today the monastery is a quiet, partly ruined place visited mostly by pilgrims and locals. For travellers, the main reward is the hilltop view over the green hills of Guria towards the Black Sea.

Nobody knows exactly when Jumati was founded, but it was a major monastery of the Principality of Guria, and its wall paintings date from the 16th to the 18th century. The church was renovated in 1847 and the bell tower added in 1904. In 1921 the monastery was robbed and its gold icon of St George lost, and by 1924 almost none of its treasures remained. It now belongs to the Shemokmedi diocese.