Poka Nunnery (St. Nino Monastery of Poka): A Highland Convent of Enamel and Cheese

The St. Nino Monastery of Poka sits on the open volcanic plateau of the Javakheti highlands, on the shore of Lake Paravani, in a landscape of wide skies and sparse highland vegetation about as far as possible from the forested gorges where most Georgian monasteries are found. It is an active convent, maintained by a community of nuns whose daily religious life continues quietly alongside the visitors who stop here — and it has earned a reputation across Georgia that reaches well beyond the usual circle of pilgrims, thanks above all to the things the community makes: its renowned cloisonné enamel, its cheeses, and its other handmade products. It stands, too, at one of the foundational sites of Georgian Christianity, where St. Nino is said to have rested after entering the country.

What is the Poka Nunnery?

The Poka Nunnery (St. Nino Monastery of Poka) is an active Georgian Orthodox convent on the shore of Lake Paravani, on the Javakheti Plateau in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of southern Georgia. Built around a medieval (11th-century) church and revived as a nunnery in 1992, it marks the spot where St. Nino is said to have rested after bringing Christianity into Georgia through Javakheti. It's famous across the country for the products the nuns make — especially cloisonné enamel (minankari) icons and artworks, and a range of cheeses — and for its social work: the nuns run a parish school and a free clinic for the local, largely Armenian-speaking community. A welcoming, living monastery in a stark, beautiful highland setting.

St. Nino and the founding

The monastery's dedication ties it directly to St. Nino, the 4th-century Cappadocian missionary who brought Christianity to Georgia and whose influence on the country's religious and cultural identity runs deeper than that of any other figure. By tradition, when St. Nino entered Georgia from the south through Javakheti, she rested for two days here at Poka, by Lake Paravani, where she received a vision directing her on to Mtskheta — so this quiet plateau spot stands near the very beginning of Georgian Christianity. A memorial obelisk marks where she is said to have first set foot, and the day of her arrival is celebrated here each 1 June, with baptisms in the lake.

The site itself is old: the church dates to the 11th century and is counted among the finer medieval monuments of Javakheti for its carved ornamentation and surviving fragments of ancient artwork, modest in size though it is. The modern community is recent. In 1988, Patriarch Ilia II visited Poka — and, because the area was then closed, bought a house by the church and registered as a resident to gain access; a monastery was established in 1989 and the nunnery in 1992, under Mother Superior Elisabeth (Meskhishvili). The community built both a genuine religious life and a productive working one, the two supporting each other in the way the best monastic communities have always managed.

A community that gives back

Part of what makes Poka distinctive is the nuns' role beyond the convent walls. For years the monastery has been the only Georgian-speaking enclave in a predominantly Armenian-speaking corner of the country, and rather than standing apart, the community has put itself at the service of its neighbors. The nuns run a parish school that teaches Georgian and English to local children — most of them from Armenian-speaking families — which is genuinely valuable for village young people who need those languages to pass Georgia's national exams. They also keep a small free clinic offering basic medical help to locals. This quiet, practical generosity, alongside the missionary and devotional life, gives the monastery a warmth and purpose that visitors notice.

The products

Poka's handmade goods are well known across Georgia, recommended by travelers and locals alike with the enthusiasm reserved for things that are both authentic and reliably good.

The signature craft is cloisonné enamel (minankari) — the nunnery has run an enamel studio for well over a decade, producing icons, holy vessels, and artworks of real quality, sold both at the monastery and at the "Pokani" shop in Tbilisi. It's some of the finest enamelwork made anywhere in Georgia, and the reason many people know Poka's name.

The cheeses are the other standout: the community has spent years blending Georgian tradition with French and European cheesemaking technique to produce an unusually wide range of distinctive cheeses (more than a dozen varieties), sold in the monastery shop. Beyond these, the nuns make chocolates and confectionery (truffles and the like), honey from the highland wildflowers of the plateau — with a flavor complexity that sets it apart from lowland honey — and jams and preserves, herbal teas, candles, porcelain, and natural cosmetics. Together they give the shop a genuine quality and variety that makes a stop here worthwhile on its own terms, not merely as charitable support.

The nuns who run the shop do so with the direct, warm manner of the best Georgian hospitality, and buying from them directly supports the community's religious, educational, and charitable work. Poka's products make some of the more distinctive and carefully made souvenirs available anywhere in Samtskhe-Javakheti.

The monastery and its setting

The church and monastic buildings are modest in architectural ambition — this is a living religious community whose buildings serve the practical needs of monastic life, not the patronage of powerful rulers. The medieval church interior has the simple, candlelit character of an active women's monastery — icons, incense, the quiet of a space in continuous devotional use — and the grounds are kept with the care a resident community gives its home rather than the institutional upkeep of a heritage site. Visitors who approach with respect for the monastic context (and the nuns are genuinely welcoming to respectful visitors) encounter Georgian religious life in its living rather than its historical dimension — a more immediate experience than the great medieval monasteries offer.

The setting is part of the appeal. Poka lies in the open volcanic grassland of the Javakheti Plateau, with wide horizons and dramatic, fast-changing weather, and Lake Paravani — Georgia's largest lake — right alongside. The unobstructed plateau sky, unframed by the mountains or forest that enclose most Georgian religious sites, gives the monastery an exposed, almost windswept character that is part of what makes it feel different. The plateau in autumn, when the grassland turns gold and dramatic cloud builds over the lake, is the most visually compelling time to visit; summer is the most comfortable and the greenest; and winter closes the plateau to most visitors, the monastery turning inward to the reduced rhythm of a community focused on its religious life.

Getting there and visiting

• Location: Poka village, Ninotsminda municipality, Samtskhe-Javakheti, southern Georgia, on the shore of Lake Paravani (~2,080 m); roughly 20–28 km from Akhalkalaki/Ninotsminda, about 3.5 hours from Tbilisi.
• Getting there: By car, about 20–25 minutes from Akhalkalaki; the plateau road is generally fine for a standard vehicle in the main season (roughly May–October). Winter access depends on conditions, which can be severe at plateau elevation.
• Hours / admission: Open daily during daylight hours; free. The shop runs during the main visiting hours — mornings and early afternoons are most reliable. As an active convent, access may be limited during services.
• Dress: Modest clothing required — shoulders and knees covered; head coverings for women expected (wraps are often available).
• Combine with: Lake Paravani, the other Javakheti lakes and the Javakheti Protected Areas, Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda, and — back north — Vardzia, Khertvisi, and Akhaltsikhe.