Kutaisi is Georgia's second largest city located 220 km to the west of Tbilisi. Kutaisi was the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Colchis. Archaeological evidence indicates that the city functioned as the capital of the kingdom of Colchis as early as the second millennium BC. It is widely believed by historians that when Apollonius Rhodius was writing about Jason and the Argonauts and their legendary journey to Colchis, Kutaisi/Aia was the final destination of the Argonauts and the residenceof King Aeëtes. The Kutaisi Cathedral, more commonly known as Bagrati Cathedral is the 11 th-century cathedral church in the city of Kutaisi. Thecathedral, now in ruins, is regarded as a masterpiece in the history of medieval Georgian architecture. In 1994, the Bagrati Cathedral, together with the Gelati Monastery, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list as a single entity.
