The Katskhi Pillar

Deep in the Caucasus region, where Western Asia and Eastern Europe meet, the small country of Georgia has a number of surprises. Not least is the Katskhi Pillar, a 130 feet high limestone monolith. Even more surprising than the monolith itself, however, is the fact that there is a church on its apex.

It is not a large church by any means - space alone demands its diminutive size. The church - or more likely a hermitage - was made in the 9th or 10th century and lay abandoned from the thirteenth century onwards. Surprisingly, there are no records of the monolith being climbed after it was deserted until as late as 1944.