Houses of God

Kintsvisi monastery and church, located in the remote mountains of northern Georgia, is in the embattled region claimed as the republic of South Ossetia. The complex was home to hundreds of retreating Georgian soldiers and fleeing civilians during last year's war against the Russian army over the renegade province, yet its monks follow a regimen dating back to the monastery's beginning in about the 11th century and Orthodox tradition that dates back to the fourth century.