Bagrati Cathedral

On a hill above the city, a great cathedral of pale stone rises over Kutaisi, its bulk visible from the streets and the river below. This is Bagrati Cathedral, a masterpiece of medieval Georgian building, a ruin for centuries and now, controversially, whole again. It is the landmark and the symbol of the city.

The cathedral was built at the very start of the eleventh century and consecrated around the year 1003, under King Bagrat the Third, the ruler who first united the Georgian lands into a single kingdom. It carries his name, and it stood as a statement of that new, unified country.

In its day it was among the grandest churches in the land, a high point of the golden age of Georgian architecture, its scale and proportion admired for a thousand years even after disaster struck it.

That disaster came in the late seventeenth century, when an invading army blew up the cathedral, bringing down its dome and roof. For more than three hundred years it stood as a vast, roofless ruin on its hill, open to the sky, mourned and loved as a symbol of the nation's endurance.

For generations the ruin, with its broken walls and missing dome, was one of the most powerful sights in the country, a great empty shell where grass grew and the wind blew through the arches. Many Georgians remember it that way.

Then, in the early twenty-first century, the cathedral was rebuilt and completed, given back its dome and roof and made a working church once more. The reconstruction was deeply controversial, and it cost the cathedral its place on the international list of World Heritage sites, which had valued it as an authentic ruin.

That controversy is part of the building's story now. Some welcome the return of a living cathedral; others mourn the loss of the haunting ruin and question the modern additions. Standing inside, you can weigh the two for yourself.

The interior is once again a place of worship, vast and high beneath the restored dome, with the proportions of the old design carried upward into light. The mix of ancient stone and modern reconstruction is visible if you look closely.

The hilltop setting is part of the experience. From the terrace around the cathedral you look out over Kutaisi, the Rioni river, and the hills beyond, one of the best views in the city, and an easy climb or short drive from the centre.

The cathedral is bound up with the medieval monastery of Gelati nearby, with which it was long listed together as a single heritage site, so the two are naturally seen on one visit to the area.

A few practical notes. Entry is free; dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, as it is a working church. Come for the views as much as the building, and pair it with Gelati a short distance away.

Stand on the hill by the great cathedral, with the city spread below and the long, troubled story of ruin and rebuilding in the stone around you, and Bagrati's place at the heart of Kutaisi is clear. When you walk back down into the city, its pale bulk follows you on the skyline.