The Monastery of Gelati is a monastic complex near Kutaisi, Imereti, western Georgia). It contains the Church of the Virgin founded by the King of Georgia David the Builder in 1106, and the 13th-century churches of St George and St Nicholas. Due to the extensive work carried out by the Gelati Academy, people of the time called it "a new Hellas" and "a second Athos". The Gelati Monastery has preserved a great number of murals and manuscripts dating back to the 12th-17th centuries. The Khakhuli triptych had also been enshrined at Gelati until being stolen in 1859.