The Most Beautiful Sacred Places in Georgia
6 places · updated 13 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most beautiful sacred places in Georgia are Jvari Monastery, Mtskheta, Gelati Monastery and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. The list covers 6 sacred places. Last updated 13 October 2026.
Georgia adopted Christianity in the early fourth century, making it one of the oldest Christian nations, and its church architecture developed along its own lines ever since. Builders worked in carefully dressed stone, favoured compact cross-in-square plans crowned by a tall drum and conical dome, and covered façades with carved crosses, vines and figures. Many churches and monasteries were set on hilltops, cliffs and mountain slopes, so that the landscape became part of their meaning.
The Jvari Monastery, built around the turn of the seventh century on a hill above the confluence of the Aragvi and Mtkvari rivers, became the model for a whole family of Georgian churches. Below it in Mtskheta, Svetitskhoveli Cathedral was rebuilt in the eleventh century on the site where tradition places the robe of Christ, and for centuries it was the coronation and burial church of Georgian kings. Gelati Monastery near Kutaisi, founded by King David IV the Builder in 1106, was a centre of learning and keeps a celebrated mosaic of the Virgin in its apse.
Higher and wilder are the others. Gergeti Trinity Church stands alone on a ridge at more than two thousand metres, beneath the glaciers of Mount Kazbek. In the semi-desert east of Tbilisi, the David Gareja Monastery Complex is a network of cells, churches and refectories cut into sandstone cliffs, founded in the sixth century and later decorated with frescoes.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jvari Monastery, Mtskheta | Monastery | ✓ |
| 2 | Gelati Monastery | Monastery | ✓ |
| 3 | Svetitskhoveli Cathedral | Cathedral | |
| 4 | Gergeti Trinity Church | Church building | |
| 5 | David Gareja Monastery Complex | Monastery | |
| 6 | New Athos Monastery | Monastery |
01 Jvari Monastery, Mtskheta
Georgia · 13.2 km from Tbilisi41.838° N 44.733° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Alexxx1979 · CC BY-SA 4.0 A small church was built beside the cross around 545, and the church that dominates the hill today followed at the turn of the sixth and seventh centuries, commissioned by the ruling princes of Kartli. It has come down to us almost unaltered, which is rare for a building of that age in Georgia.
Did you know? An inscription over the women's prayer room records that it was paid for by an otherwise unknown benefactor named Timistia.
02 Gelati Monastery
Georgia · 5.9 km from Kutaisi42.295° N 42.768° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Image by Makalu from Pixabay The main church, dedicated to the Virgin, was completed in 1130 under David's son Demetrius I, and smaller churches and a bell tower were added over the following centuries. They are built of solid stone on a cross-shaped plan, with walls meant to catch the sunlight and be seen far across the country, a showpiece of the Georgian Golden Age.
Did you know? The main church was built by about 1125, but laying its mosaics took roughly five more years before its consecration in 1130.
03 Svetitskhoveli Cathedral
Georgia · 14 km from Tbilisi41.842° N 44.721° E
This Photo was taken by Supanut Arunoprayote . Feel free to use any of my images, but please mention me as the author and may send me a message. (สามารถใช้ภาพได้อิสระ แต่กรุณาใส่เครดิตผู้ถ่ายและอาจส่ง ข้อความบอกกล่าวด้วย ) Please do not upload an updated image here without consultation with the Author. The author would like to make corrections only at his own source. This ensures that the changes are preserved. Please if you think that any changes should be required, please inform the author. Otherwise you can upload a new image with a new name. Please use one of the templates derivative or extract . · CC BY 4.0 The present church was built between 1010 and 1029 under King George I by the architect Arsukisdze. It replaced a 5th-century basilica attributed to King Vakhtang Gorgasali, which in turn had replaced a 4th-century church raised under King Mirian III. 7 metres long, 27 metres wide and 49 metres high, still the second-largest church in Georgia.
Did you know? At least ten Georgian kings are buried here, among them Erekle II, whose tomb bears a sword and shield, and George XII, the last king.
04 Gergeti Trinity Church
Georgia42.662° N 44.620° E
Image by MurrrPhoto from Pixabay Georgians call it Gergetis Tsminda Sameba, the Holy Trinity of Gergeti, after the village on the slope below. It was built in the fourteenth century as a cross-in-square church: three rectangular arms and a rounded apse gathered under a tall drum pierced by ten windows. The walls are faced in dark grey stone, carved here and there with modest ornament, which lets the building sit in the landscape rather than against it.
Did you know? According to legend, the church was raised on the site of an older, destroyed sanctuary where the cross of St Nino had once stood.
05 David Gareja Monastery Complex
Georgia · 30.5 km from Rustavi41.448° N 45.376° E
Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0 The complex reached its height between the late eleventh and early thirteenth centuries, the golden age of the medieval Georgian kingdom, when new monasteries - Udabno, Bertubani, Chichkhituri - were carved into the cliffs and their walls painted. These frescoes are the reason to come.
Did you know? The monastery grew further in the 9th century under the guidance of the Georgian saint Hilarion the Iberian.
06 New Athos Monastery
Georgia · 17.9 km from Sukhumi43.088° N 40.821° E
Hons084 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Building it was a feat of earthmoving: to create a level platform, part of the mountainside had to be cut away and tens of thousands of tonnes of rock and earth removed. The half-built monastery was looted during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877–78, and the work resumed in 1880 and lasted two decades; the monastery was consecrated in 1900. According to Russian sources, the chiming clock in the bell tower was a gift of Emperor Alexander III.
Did you know? The cathedral's murals were directed by the artists Mikhail Molov and Alexei Serebryakov, working with icon painters from the village of Palekh.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most beautiful sacred places in Georgia?
- On our list, Jvari Monastery, Mtskheta ranks first, followed by Gelati Monastery and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral.
- When did Georgia become Christian?
- Christianity became the state religion of the Georgian kingdom of Kartli in the early fourth century, after the preaching of Saint Nino and the conversion of King Mirian III.
- Why is Svetitskhoveli Cathedral so important?
- According to tradition, the robe of Christ is buried beneath the cathedral. It was the main church of the Georgian Orthodox Church for centuries and the place where many Georgian kings were crowned and buried.
- Who founded Gelati Monastery?
- Gelati was founded in 1106 by King David IV, known as David the Builder, who also established an academy there. He is buried at the monastery's southern gate.
- How many sacred places are on this list in Georgia?
- The list covers 6 sacred places.