Geguti Palace

Geguti Palace - The monument of the Georgian architecture of the Feudal Age is located in Tskaltubo municipality, village Geguti, 7 km south of Kutaisi, on the Rioni River.

History

The earliest historical reference to the Geguti Palace belongs to the VIII century. Archil of Kartli says in one of the lists of Juansheri’s "life of Vakhtang Gorgasali": "... “I will go to the palace Geguti and Kutaisi." The main building of the palace is of the years of Giorgi III. It was here that Giorgi III announced Tamar as a King.

After the collapse of the Kingdom of Georgia, Geguti palace is the residence of the kings of Imereti (mentioned in the 1737 map of Imereti Kingdom).

The palace was damaged in the first half of the XIX century. After the annexation of the Imereti Kingdom by the Russian Empire, its destruction continued, and the Empire's officials used the palace materials to build buildings in Kutaisi.

The first researcher of the Geguti Complex, Swiss Frédéric Dubois de Montpéreux, in 1833 established a plan of the surviving part of the palace and defined the function of separate lodging.

Architecture

The archaeological campaign of 1937 partially cleaned some of the lodges and clarified the details of the existing plan. Up to 60 artifacts of various times discovered during excavations are preserved in the Georgian National Museum. From 1954 to 1962 the complex was cleaned and was carried out the conservation work. From 1953 to 1956 it was possible to determine the architectural forms of the palace as a result of restoration and research works.

There are several construction layers in the palace hall. The plan of the earliest part (VIII - IX cc) is simple, one-room, with a large fireplace so-called "Hunting house", Later, it performed different functions.

The whole building is surrounded by a massive pier. The western part of the main building and the palace church belongs to the XIII-XIV centuries.