Metekhi Church

Why go

Its walls carry more of Tbilisi's history than the compact building suggests. Tradition traces a church on this cliff back to the fifth century and Vakhtang Gorgasali; the present one went up under Demetrius II. After the Russian authorities destroyed the surrounding fortress in 1819, a prison stood here, and inmates carved their names and dates into the church walls. The prison was demolished in 1933, and services resumed in 1988. Look for the three projecting apses of the east façade, then at the view across to the old town from the courtyard. Narikala and the sulphur baths are directly across the river.