The New Shuamta Monastery was founded in the XVI century by the King of Kakheti Levan (1520-1574) and his wife Tinatin. Monastery is dedicated to the Holy Icon of Mother of God named “Khakhuli”.
It is thanks to the Khakhuli icon of the Most Holy Virgin that its receptacle, the New Shuamta monastery, has been cherished as the most important monastery dedicated to the Mother of God in Kakheti.
In 1926, the Bolshevik authorities shut down the New Shuamta Monastery, evicted the monastics, transferred the Khakhuli icon of the Most Holy Virgin to the Georgian Museum of Art and opened here the holiday house. Later, during the second world war, an orphanage was arranged in the monastery’s territory. In the...
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