Unusual buildings in Georgia. Synagogue, mosque, Catholic Church in Tbilisi.
Among the many synagogues in Georgia, the great synagogue in Tbilisi stands out. The synagogue is made of red brick, which you will definitely not pass. The mosque in Tbilisi has been standing since the eighth century, it is not the only mosque in Georgia, there are a huge majority of them. The first Catholic church dates back to the thirteenth century.
Jews have been a nation living on the territory of Georgia since ancient times. Back in the VI century before the birth of Christ, a part of the Jews who fled from Jerusalem reached the city of Mtskheta and settled here.
The Jews had their own districts in almost all the major cities of Georgia, and they were mainly engaged in trade. Compactly populated Jews built their own prayer houses - synagogues. There are many synagogues on the territory of Georgia. Among them, the synagogue in Racha, in Oni, stands out for its beauty and original architectural form. There are several synagogues in Tbilisi. The current large synagogue, located on Leselidze Street, was built in 1910. There is a small synagogue nearby. The third, "domed synagogue" is located on the street of Catalikos Anton. Currently, it is not operational and the Historical and Ethnographic Museum of Georgian Jews named after him is located in it. David Baazov.
Tbilisi was under Islamic influence for almost 4 centuries (435-112). Historical sources indicate that the mosque in Tbilisi has existed since the VIII century. And subsequently, the Islamic culture had a huge impact on the life and architecture of the city.
Existing in the city center, near the Botanical Garden, the mosque was originally built by King Kartli Rostom (1633-1658). In the XIX century, the reconstruction of the mosque's minaret was carried out by the Italian architect Giovanni Scudieri. On the left bank of the Kura River, on the Rika, there was another mosque, built in 1522 by order of the Iranian Shah Ismail. This Shiite mosque was destroyed by the Communists in 1951 under the pretext of reconstructing the Metekh Bridge. After that, representatives of both directions of Islam (Shiites and Sunnis) pray together in the Sunni mosque located in Abanotubani.
The first Catholic church in Tbilisi was built in 1243 by Dominican monks. During the reign of George V of Brtskinvale, a diocese was established in Tbilisi by the decree of the Pope and the Catholic Church of the Annunciation was erected (presumably on the same place where it is located today - at one of the entrances of historical Tbilisi, near the Kojor gate, now G. Abesadze St. No. 4).
In 1795, the Iranian Shah Agha Mohammad Khan destroyed the Catholic Church during the devastation of Tbilisi. In 1804, on the initiative of the tsar's viceroy Pavel Tsitsianov, a new pseudo-Gothic style church plan was created. The construction of this church was completed in 1806 (the fence was erected in 1825). The Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Virgin operated until the 20s of the twentieth century, before its closure by the Bolsheviks. In 1998-1999, under the curacy of Bishop J. Pesotti, restoration was carried out and the church became operational again.
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