Historical places in Georgia. Visit the ancient Svetitskhoveli Temple. To see the Savior's Chiton. Pilgrimage tours in Georgia.

The Life-giving Pillar

Years later, a cedar tree grew on the place where Sidania was buried. Residents immediately began to revere the tree as divine, because sick birds, animals, after eating cedar needles, left completely recovered.

Equal-to-the-Apostles Nino asked to erect a temple at the burial site - she once came here and prayed for a long time near a tree.

Seven pillars were made of this divine tree to build a future wooden temple, but it was not possible to move one pillar to another place. The pillar was named "Svetitskhoveli" or from the Georgian "Life-giving Pillar", as it began to flow myrrh.

The temple is a real treasure of Georgian culture.

The Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, unfortunately, has been rebuilt and reconstructed many times. In the eleventh century, a cross-domed four-column three-nave church was built next to the temple. Only its foundation has survived to this day.

In the fifteenth century, the dome of the cathedral, which beautifully rushed to the heavens and created the appearance that the cathedral was holding the sky, was destroyed due to a terrible earthquake.

In the eighteenth century, a tower was installed near the pillar and the grave. There are regular worshippers here who gather in groups or come one by one.

Svetitskhoveli is a real symbol of Georgia.

Many rulers and patriarchs were buried here. From the outside, the temple looks very beautiful and impressive: a huge sandstone cathedral, strict, monotonous, very high. Of all the historical buildings that have survived to the present day, this is the largest structure. The temple is surrounded by a fortress wall.

Interesting architecture of the temple.

An interesting feature in the architecture of this building is its location, according to knowledge in astrology. It is believed that a hidden meaning is embedded here.

The structure is a cross shape, where the deviation of the angles in degrees is exactly twenty-two degrees. The Egyptian pyramids are rotated at the same angle (when viewed relative to the cardinal directions), the same angle of inclination has the axis of the Earth. According to many modern scientists, the arrangement of towers and other buildings symbolizes the structure of the Solar System.

Pilgrimage tours.

Today Svetitskhoveli is one of the most popular places among tourists and even among newlyweds. Every weekend you can see colorful wedding ceremonies.

You can get here by booking pilgrimage tours, many of them include a visit to Svetitskhoveli. During these tours, you will hear the legend of the Chiton “performed" by professional guides.