Nekresi Monastery, Kvareli

The Nekresi monastery is a Georgian Orthodox monastery in the eastern Georgian region of Kakheti, founded in the 6th century. Perched on one of the easternmost spurs of the Greater Caucasus crest, the monastery is part of the larger historic site of Nekresi, once a flourishing town of the Late Antiquity. In medieval Georgian literary tradition, beginnings of monasticism at Nekresi is associated with the 6th-century monk Abibos, known for Christian proselytizing and combating Zoroastrianism. The monastery was closed down shortly after the Imperial Russian takeover of the Georgian church in 1811. After a hiatus of nearly two centuries, the monastery became functional again in 2000. ()