Marvels of Mtskheta: From Svetitskhoveli Cathedral to Jvari Monastery

Mtskheta, Georgia's Holy City.

Mtskheta is one of the oldest cities in Georgia and its former capital. Lodged only twenty kilometers north of Tbilisi, it stands at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers. The importance of its service to Christianity led it to be dubbed the Holy City.

Visitors can access a variety of historical monuments in the area. The complex at Samtavro Monastery includes Samtavro Transfiguration Church and the Nunnery of St. Nino. These examples of Early and High Medieval architecture date from the 4^th century, when they were built, and the 11^th century, when they were rebuilt. Nuns tend the graves, including the resting place of a sanctified Georgian monk named Gabriel.

Jvari Monastery, meanwhile, dates from 545. More than a hundred years earlier, a female evangelist called Saint Nino set up a large cross made of woody vines. The church built on the site hovers near a cliff with views over the rivers and the valley.

In Mtskheta itself stands Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. Known as the burial site of Christ's mantle, the building is a masterwork of Early and High Middle Ages design. The cross-in-square structure of Georgia's second-largest church was completed in the early 11^th century.

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Laine Cunningham, a three-time recipient of The Hackney Award, writes fiction that takes readers around the world. Her debut novel, The Family Made of Dust, is set in the Australian Outback, while Reparation is a novel of the American Great Plains. She is the editor of Sunspot Literary Journal.