Monastery · Mtskheta Municipality, Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Shio-Mgvime Monastery
შიომღვიმე · Shio Mghvime Monastery · Shiomghvime
A working monastery in a narrow limestone gorge on the north side of the Mtkvari near Mtskheta, grown up around the cave where the 6th-century ascetic Shio spent his last years and was buried.
Where it is
41.8624, 44.6403
Why go
Two churches frame the visit. St John the Baptist, built in the 560s–570s while Shio was alive, has its lower part cut into the cliff; beside it stands the Dormition church commissioned by David the Builder between 1103 and 1123, later destroyed by Shah Abbas I and rebuilt as a basilica. Shio's cave and grave are treated as holy places, the Spring of Tears runs near the gate, and more than a hundred caves where monks sheltered during invasions open in the rock behind the complex. The road in from Mtskheta climbs through old forest.
Base yourself nearby
Historic town
Mtskheta
Mtskheta was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Iberia and is the place where Georgia adopted Christianity in the fourth century. Today it is a small, walkable town twenty kilometres from Tbilisi holding Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, the hilltop church of Jvari, the working convent of Samtavro and the archaeological remains of the pre-Christian royal city, inscribed together on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is simultaneously Georgia's most important pilgrimage destination and its most accessible serious historical site.
city
Tbilisi
Georgia’s capital is a layered city of old balconies, sulfur baths, hillside neighborhoods, contemporary restaurants and centuries of history along the Mtkvari River.
Near Shio-Mgvime Monastery
Fortress
Ksani Fortress
A partly ruined fortress of the Mukhrani princes on Mount Sarkineti near Tsikhisdziri, commanding the meeting of the Ksani and Mtkvari rivers, with walls and towers largely from its 1746 rebuilding.
5 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Samtavro Monastery
A working convent in the centre of Mtskheta around an 11th-century domed church where Georgia's first Christian king and queen are buried; part of the Historical Monuments of Mtskheta World Heritage property.
7 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Fortress
Bebris Tsikhe
A ruined hilltop fortress on the right bank of the Aragvi just north of Mtskheta, built to shut the town's approach from the Aragvi valley, with its citadel and lower yard still traceable.
7 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Church
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral
The principal cathedral of the Georgian Orthodox Church in the centre of Mtskheta, rebuilt between 1010 and 1029 by the architect Arsukidze, and part of the Historical Monuments of Mtskheta World Heritage property.
7 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ