Kutaisi Botanical Garden has a chapel inside an oak-tree


Category: Kutaisi

An equipped chapel has been found inside a giant oak-tree in Kutaisi Botanical Garden, - reports Russian “First Channel”. The tree is 400 thousand years and has turned into a miniature chapel with the blessing of the Georgian Orthodox church.

The oak tree reaches a height of 45 meters, and around 2 meters in diameter. The hollow that has been transformed into a chapel seizes almost the quarter of the entire tree, and three people may freely fit inside. Walls of this unusual church are adorned with the icons brought by the locals. The inner part of the tree was practically not touched by experts. Only some preservative-treatment was carried out. The hollow was formed by itself in the previous century. To a surprise of the management of the Botanical Garden, the hollow didn’t make the oak tree dry out, but it continued to blossom.

The Deputy Director of the Kutaisi Botanical Garden, David Zalkaliani, noted that the unusual chapel became a cultural landmark, and now attracts not only pilgrims from Georgia, but from around the world.