Church · Kala, Krtsanisi District, Tbilisi
Sioni Cathedral
სიონის ღვთისმშობლის მიძინების ტაძარი · Tbilisi Sioni · Sioni Cathedral of the Dormition
Tbilisi's cathedral of the Dormition on Sioni Street in the old Kala quarter by the Mtkvari, where the cross venerated as that of St Nino is kept beside the iconostasis.
Where it is
41.6913, 44.8075
Why go
Until Holy Trinity Cathedral was consecrated in 2004, Sioni was the seat of the Catholicos-Patriarch. Its fabric is layered: first built in the sixth and seventh centuries and repeatedly wrecked by invaders, the church you see keeps the form of a thirteenth-century rebuilding with later repairs. Inside, look to the north side of the iconostasis for the cross of St Nino, who brought Christianity to Georgia in the fourth century, and for an icon of the Mother of God painted in 1762. The bath district of Abanotubani and the lanes around Leghvtakhevi are close by.
Near Sioni Cathedral
Church
Metekhi Church
A domed church on the Metekhi cliff above the left bank of the Mtkvari, facing Old Tbilisi across the river, built under King Demetrius II in the thirteenth century and fronted by an equestrian statue of Vakhtang Gorgasali.
0 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Fortress
Narikala Fortress
Fortress walls crowning the ridge above Old Tbilisi between the sulphur baths and the botanical garden, with the rebuilt Church of St Nicholas inside and a cable car climbing up from Rike Park.
0 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Park
National Botanical Garden of Georgia
A botanical garden of more than 3,500 plant species in the Tsavkisistskali river gorge below Narikala, reached by a steep climb from Tbilisi's sulphur baths.
1 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Church
Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi
The principal cathedral of the Georgian Orthodox Church on Elia hill above Avlabari, completed in 2004 to a design by Archil Mindiashvili and rising 86.1 metres to the top of its cross.
1 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ