Important and beautiful churches in Tbilisi. Visit Sioni Cathedral and Kashveti Church.
Sioni Cathedral is the main Christian church in Tbilisi. Due to many raids, the cathedral underwent changes. The cathedral has two bell towers, one of which was erected in the eighteenth century, and the second a century later. Initially Kashveti was a small chapel. The modern cathedral was built in the early twentieth century.
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Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Sioni) it was built at the turn of the VI - VII centuries. It is the main Christian church in Tbilisi. Due to the destructive raids of the conquerors, the cathedral underwent numerous changes.
In 1226, Khorezm Shah Jalalad-Din, having conquered Tbilisi, ordered to remove the dome from Sioni, and put his throne in the temple. From here, from his throne, he watched those Georgians who did not desecrate the icons with the faces of the Savior and the Virgin, taken out of the cathedral and laid out on the Metekh Bridge. 100,000 Christians were beheaded that day. In 1522, the Zion Cathedral was plundered by the Iranian Shah Ismail.
In 1675, Bishop Elise Saginashvili, by order of Tsar Rostock, added a small chapel to the southern part of the cathedral and blocked the Sioni with a new dome. In 1710, Vakhtang VI coated the building with Sioni Bolnisi tuff. It was during this restoration that carved ornaments were carved on the walls of the cathedral, which adorn it to this day.
During the period of Russian rule, Sioni underwent changes again. In the 50s of the nineteenth century, Grigory Gagarin re-painted Sioni. In 1867, the cathedral was renovated again. The last restoration work in the cathedral was carried out in 1983. The Church of St. Michael the Archangel was established in the southern annex, and the church named after him was established in the northern annex. Vakhtanga Gorgasali. A new cross was installed on the dome.
There are two bell towers in the Zion Cathedral. The bell tower located inside the fence at the northern part of the cathedral dates back to 1725, and the three-tiered bell tower located at the western part of the cathedral, on the other side of the street, was erected in 1812.
Kashveti Church was originally a small chapel built by the Holy Father David of Gareja. In 1753, due to damage, the cathedral was built of bricks for the second time by the commander of the military district (sadroso) Shida Kartli Givi Amilakhvari. The inscription preserved on the left wall of the portal of the lower cathedral testifies to this construction. The construction of the present Kashveti Church began on November 12, 1904. The architects were L.P. Bielfeld, E.L. Andreoletti, the Agladze brothers. The construction was financed mainly by David Sarajishvili.
The current Kashveti temple is based on the construction of the Samtavisi Cathedral. Its architectural peculiarity lies in the unconventional arrangement of the iconostasis: in order to leave more space for the clergy than for the worshippers, the iconostasis is located not between the front columns, but behind them. Algeti stone, Dzageti white stone, Italian marble were used in the construction. The cathedral is not oversaturated with carved decorations. The carved ornaments repeat the decorations of different churches of Georgia and are harmoniously combined with each other. The altar of the cathedral is painted by the famous Georgian artist Lado Gudiashvili.
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