The Monk on the Pillar
On top of a 40-metre rock pillar in Georgia stands a tiny church, home for decades to a monk.
What was reported
The Katskhi pillar is a natural limestone column about 40 metres high in western Georgia. Local people revered it for centuries, but no one climbed it until 1944, when mountaineers found the ruins of a small medieval church and a hermit's cell on top.
From 1993 a monk, Maxime Qavtaradze, lived on the pillar, climbing down a long ladder only now and then, following the tradition of the stylites, early Christian hermits who lived on pillars.
Explanations offered
Archaeologists dated the ruins to around the 9th or 10th century. The church was restored in 2009, and the pillar is still used for prayer, though visitors can't climb it.
- When
- Lived in from 1993
- Where
- Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia
- Witnesses
- Visitors, and the monk who lived there
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.