28 June 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Georgia’s Holy City Mtskheta

Georgia’s ancient capital city, Mtskheta, is located 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Tbilisi at the confluence of two mountainous rivers – the Aragvi and the Kura.

Mtskheta is thought to have been founded around 3,000 years ago.  It is one of the oldest cities of Georgia and it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

As Mtskheta Georgia is the birthplace and one of the most vibrant centers of Christianity in Georgia, Mtskheta City was declared as the “Holy City” by the Georgian Orthodox Church in 2014.

The city’s numerous holy sites have won it the name of Second Jerusalem. One of the greatest Christian relics, the Holy Coat, is kept at the Svetitkhoveli Cathedral. This treasure is a reason why Mtskheta is called a holy city, a place where Christian pilgrims and tourists come from around the world.

A legend goes that Mtskheta was founded by King Mtsekhotos, the son of the first king, Kartli, who built the city and gave his name to it. Historical records say that the city was founded in the second half of the first millennium B.C., almost when the Eastern Georgian Kingdom of Kartli with the capital, Mtskheta, was formed.

Mtskheta had the status of capital city for almost a thousand years, until the end of the 5th century A.D., when King Vakhtang Gorgasali ruled to move the capital to Tbilisi. But even after that, Mtskheta remained an important religious center and residence of the Georgian catholicoses.

Mtskheta Georgia is located on the crossroad of Europe and Asia and had very important strategic and economic advantages till the late middle ages. It used to be the capital of the Eastern Georgian kingdom of Iberia from the 4th c BC through the 5th c AD.

Due to its historical significance and several cultural monuments, the “Historical Monuments of Mtskheta” became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.

Georgia's Holy City Mtskheta
Georgia’s Holy City Mtskheta

The area is revered by many Georgians and is one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations.

The city has wonderful Sights to see. The most important of them are:

The Svetitskhoveli Cathedral

Literally, the Cathedral of the Living Pillar is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral. A masterpiece of the Early Middle Ages, Svetitskhoveli is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. It is currently the second-largest church building in Georgia, after the Holy Trinity Cathedral.

Svetitskhoveli is famously known as the burial site of one of the greatest Christian relics – Christ’s mantle. Svetitskhoveli has long been the principal Georgian church and is one of the most venerated places of worship for locals and Christian pilgrims worldwide. The present structure was completed in 1029 by the medieval Georgian architect Arsukisdze, although the site itself dates back to the early fourth century.

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral Mtskheta
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, Mtskheta

Jvari Monastery

Jvari Monastery is a sixth-century Georgian Orthodox monastery.  Jvari Monastery stands on the rocky mountaintop at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers, overlooking the town of Mtskheta, which was formerly the capital of the Kingdom of Iberia.

According to traditional accounts, on this location in the early 4th century Saint Nino, a female evangelist credited with converting King Mirian III of Iberia to Christianity erected a large wooden cross on the site of a pagan temple. The cross was reportedly able to work miracles and therefore drew pilgrims from all over the Caucasus. A small church was erected over the remnants of the wooden cross in c.545 named the “Small Church of Jvari”.

Jvari Monastery, Mtskheta
Jvari Monastery, Mtskheta

The Shio-Mgvime monastery

Literally meaning “the cave of Shio” is a medieval monastic complex. It is located in a narrow limestone canyon on the northern bank of the Kura River, some 30 km from Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital.

According to a historic tradition, the first monastic community at this place was founded by the 6th-century monk Shio, one of the Thirteen Assyrian Fathers who came to Georgia as Christian missionaries. St. Shio is said to have spent his last years as a hermit in a deep cave near Mtskheta subsequently named Shiomghvime (“the Cave of Shio”) after him.

Shio-Mgvime monastery, Mtskheta
Shio-Mgvime monastery, Mtskheta

Armazi

Armazi is a locale in Georgia, 4 km southwest of Mtskheta and 22 km northwest of Tbilisi. A part of historical Greater Mtskheta, it is a place where the ancient city of the same name and the original capital of the early Georgian kingdom of Kartli or Iberia was located. It particularly flourished in the early centuries CE and was destroyed by the Arab invasion in the 730s.

With the transfer of the Georgian capital to Tbilisi in the late 5th or early 6th century, Armazi went into a gradual decline. It still had its own high-ranking commandant, a post held in A.D. 545 by a certain Wistam. The city was finally destroyed and razed to the ground in 736 by the Arab commander Marwan ibn Muhammad (the future Umayyad Caliph Marwan II).[1]

The city of Armazi has never been revived since then, but a Georgian Orthodox monastery of St. Nino was constructed there between 1150 and 1178. This is a six-apse hall church which, as well as its associated structures, is now largely in ruins and only some fragments of the 12th-century murals have survived.

Armazi, Mtskheta
Armazi, Mtskheta.

Zedazeni Monastery

Zedazeni Monastery is a Georgian Orthodox monastery, located on the Zedazeni mountain the hills of Saguramo, northeast to Mtskheta and to the east side of the Aragvi River.

The monastery was founded by Saint John, one of the Holy Assyrian Fathers of Georgia whose mission was to strengthen Christianity in the region.

Samtavro Orthodox Church and Nunnery of St. Nino

Samtavro Transfiguration Orthodox Church and Nunnery of St. Nino in Mtskheta, were built in the 4th century by King Mirian III of Iberia. The church was reconstructed in the 11th century by King George I and Catholicos-Patriarch Melkisedek. The famous Georgian monk Gabriel is buried in the yard of Samtavro Church.

Related Articles

Hasanlu Teppe and Mysterious Gold Bowl of Hasanlu

22 January 2022

22 January 2022

Hasanlu Teppe dominates the plain known as Solduz in Iran and was one of the largest settlements in the Qadar...

Explore 1,400-year-old ruins, submerged in Eastern China – Atlantis of China

10 June 2023

10 June 2023

Deep in Qiandao Lake, between China’s Five Lion Mountains, lie the mysterious ruins of two ancient cities, dating back to...

A Little-Known Civilization in the Americas Built Pyramids as Old as Ancient Egypt

26 June 2022

26 June 2022

Considered the cradle of civilization in the Americas, the Sacred City of Caral-Supe is a 5000-year-old archaeological site, situated on...

The World’s oldest and first swords ever discovered

11 March 2023

11 March 2023

The 5,000-year-old swords found 43 years ago during the excavations in the old mud-brick palace structure in Malatya Arslantepe Mound...

Marmore, the Highest and Oldest Artificial Waterfall in Europe, Created by the Romans

4 March 2024

4 March 2024

Approximately eight kilometers away from the town of Terni in Umbria, Italy, there is a waterfall that is one of...

Monastery Behind the Clouds “Sümela”

26 April 2021

26 April 2021

Trabzon has hosted tens of civilizations throughout history, and as a result, it is home to a plethora of historical...

The Kyrgyz epic ‘Manas’ manuscripts were included in the UNESCO Memory of the World

10 June 2023

10 June 2023

Manuscripts of the Kyrgyz epic “Manas” by narrator Sagymbay Orozbakov have been inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World...

“If this site (Sharda temple)is restored and conserved, it will attract thousands of Hindus and Buddhists from Kashmir and the rest of the world”

7 August 2021

7 August 2021

Sharda Peeth, a historic learning institution located 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Muzaffarabad, the capital and largest city of Pakistan-administered...

Foundations laid with human blood “Foundation sacrifices”

5 September 2021

5 September 2021

The custom of sacrificing a human being at the erection of a new house or fortress is very old. Foundation...

Clarifying The Complexities Of Communication Across Millennia In Mesoamerica

20 February 2022

20 February 2022

The long-held consensus that the more populated and “civilized” a society, the more complex their communication may be more nuanced...

A Byzantine Princess, a Mongol Khan, and a Church: The Bloody Church and Its Unknown History

13 May 2025

13 May 2025

Nestled at the base of the imposing Phanar Greek Orthodox College, a landmark intrinsically linked to the panoramic vistas of...

Georgian churches of Artvin, Turkey’s natural wonder city

6 April 2022

6 April 2022

Artvin is a city in northeastern Turkey about 30 km inland from the Black Sea. It is located on a...

Ancient musical instrument “Chang” symbolizing Azerbaijan’s rich cultural heritage

16 March 2022

16 March 2022

Harp is a world-famous, ancient, stringed musical instrument. Chang, in terms of structure, is a harp-like stringed musical instrument. The...

Britain’s Best Viking Museums

18 March 2021

18 March 2021

The Vikings were famous seafaring people from the late 8th to early 11th centuries who made a name for themselves...

Historical Beauties of Turkmenistan

10 May 2021

10 May 2021

Turkmenistan is a nation with a big history and terrain in central Asia, surrounded by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Iran,...