Jvari Monastery, Mtskheta

Interesting facts

Tradition says Saint Nino raised her cross on the site of a pagan temple, and the cross was said to work miracles that drew pilgrims from all over the Caucasus.

The dome rests on three tiers of squinches, ending in a ring of 32 facets, so that no pillar interrupts the single open interior.

The church's western façade is braced by a buttress wall and stands almost on the edge of the precipice above the rivers.

A small kneeling figure carved on the drum of the dome may be a portrait of the church's unknown architect.

An inscription over the women's prayer room records that it was paid for by an otherwise unknown benefactor named Timistia.

The relief carvings on the façades show both Hellenistic and Sasanian Persian influences.

Arab troops set the church on fire in 914, yet the stone building survived with only minor repairs.

In the late Middle Ages the hilltop complex was enclosed by a fortified stone wall with towers and a gate, parts of which still stand.

In Soviet times the church was kept as a national monument, but a nearby military base made it hard to reach.

Georgian and Armenian scholars still debate which nation first developed the four-apsed plan with corner niches that Jvari made famous.

Why it is worth it

Jvari stands alone on a rocky hilltop at 656 metres, above the point where the Aragvi runs into the Mtkvari (Kura) and across the water from Mtskheta, the old capital of the kingdom of Iberia. Georgian tradition holds that Saint Nino, who brought Christianity to the kingdom in the fourth century, raised a great wooden cross on this height, and that the cross became a place of pilgrimage. The name simply means "cross", and the stone base that is said to have held it still stands in the middle of the church.

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. The plan is a tetraconch: four apses open off a central square, and between them deep niches and squinches carry the drum and dome without a single free-standing pillar. At only about 25 metres high, the interior feels far larger than it is, and the design became a model copied across Georgia and Armenia, where churches of this form are still called the Jvari type.

The outside is worth walking around slowly. Low reliefs on the east facade show the patrons who built the church, placed above the windows of the altar apse, and inscriptions in the old Georgian asomtavruli script ask the Cross of the Saviour for mercy on them by name. On the south side the tympanum over the entrance carries the Glorification of the Cross, with an Ascension of Christ close by. From the terrace the view runs straight down to the meeting of the two rivers and to the roofs and cathedral of Mtskheta; together with the town's other historic churches, Jvari has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994.

Getting there

The monastery lies about 18 km from central Tbilisi and just across the river from Mtskheta. Tbilisi International Airport (TBS) is about 26 km away. There is no convenient public transport to the hilltop itself: most visitors come by taxi from Mtskheta or Tbilisi, or on a tour combining the monastery with Mtskheta; a hiking route from Mtskheta is possible but long.

From the encyclopaedia

Jvari Monastery is a sixth-century Georgian Orthodox monastery near Mtskheta, eastern Georgia. Jvari is a rare case of an Early Medieval Georgian church that has survived to the present day almost unchanged. The church became the founder of its type, the Jvari type of church architecture, prevalent in Georgia and Armenia. Built atop of Jvari Mount, the monastery is an example of harmonious connection with the natural environment, characteristic to medieval Georgian architecture. Along with other historic structures of Mtskheta, the monastery was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1994.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Jvari Monastery, Mtskheta

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

On these lists

From the encyclopaedia