Parkhali

In a mountain valley of historic Tao stood Parkhali, a Georgian monastery dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. Its great three-aisled basilica was begun by the brothers Bagrat and David and completed by David III Kuropalates by 973. Carved stonework, murals and inscriptions adorned the church, while the monastery became an important center of Georgian letters.

Scribes at Parkhali copied religious manuscripts, among them a collection of homilies containing Georgian hagiographical works. Its monks maintained ties with other centers of Christian learning beyond the valleys of Tao. The region's monasteries continued to embody the Georgian religious and literary tradition through changes of rulers, but after the Ottoman conquest of Samtskhe-Saatabago their communities were dispersed and monastic life came to an end.