The Cathedral of the Dormition, also called the Kutaisi Cathedral or Bagrati Cathedral (Georgian: ბაგრატის ტაძარი), is a 11th-century church located in Kutaisi, in the Imereti region of Georgia. This important example of medieval Georgian architecture was badly damaged over many centuries. It was gradually rebuilt to its current form starting in the 1950s, with disputed restoration efforts finishing in 2012. These efforts led UNESCO to add the cathedral to its list of endangered World Heritage Sites, and later to remove it from the World Heritage list.
Standing on Ukimerioni Hill, the cathedral is a well-known landmark in central Kutaisi.
History
Bagrati Cathedral was built in the early 11th century during the rule of King Bagrat III, which is why it was named "Bagrati," meaning "Bagrat's cathedral." An inscription on the north wall shows that the floor was laid in "chronicon 223," which means the year 1003. In 1692, the cathedral was damaged by a cannonball fired by Ottoman soldiers who had invaded the Kingdom of Imereti. This caused the cupola and ceiling to collapse.
William Lethaby described it as "the finest of Georgian monuments."
Restoration and conservation work, along with archaeological studies, began at the cathedral in the 1950s under the leadership of a Georgian architect named Vakhtang Tsintsadze. The restoration work, led by Tsintsadze, was divided into six stages and continued for many years until 1994. In 1994, Bagrati Cathedral, along with the Gelati Monastery, was added to UNESCO's World Heritage Site list as a single entity. In 2001, ownership of the cathedral was transferred from the Georgian government to the Georgian Orthodox Church.
The cathedral is officially dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God, and its main feast day is Mariamoba. It is now the seat of the Metropolitan of Kutaisi. Regular religious services are held there. A monastery is located on the grounds, and the hieromonks serve as cathedral clergy. The cathedral is a popular place for weddings among local people. It is also often used as a symbol of the city of Kutaisi and is one of the city's main tourist attractions.
Present state and conservation issues
In July 2010, UNESCO added Bagrati Cathedral to its List of World Heritage in Danger because the ongoing reconstruction work could harm the building's strength and original features. In 2008, ICOMOS was worried about the cathedral's poor condition before any rebuilding started, but it encouraged the government to avoid reconstruction methods that might reduce the site's historical value. In 2011, UNESCO asked the Georgian government to create a plan to fix some of the recent changes to the site, though it noted these changes might be very hard to undo. In 2013, architect Andrea Bruno received a Georgian state gold medal for his work on the cathedral's reconstruction and later won the University of Ferrara Domus International Prize for Restoration and Conservation for this project. UNESCO criticized the restoration work as harmful to the site's original features. In 2017, Gelati Monastery was removed from UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger and kept its World Heritage Site status, but Bagrati Cathedral lost its World Heritage status.