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SVETITSKHOVELI CATHEDRAL

The Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta is Georgia’s most famous landmark. According to Georgian tradition, it stands on the burial site of the Christ's chiton. The first church was built here as early as 330 by the newly baptized King Mirian on the advice of St Nino, the Illuminatrix of Georgia. The name Svetitskhoveli means Life-Giving Pillar and derives from a wooden pillar standing in the church, which was believed to be miracle-working. In the 480s King Vakhtang Gorgasal replaced the first wooden church with a new one, a large three-nave basilica built of stone. Between 1010 and 1029, a new Svetitskhoveli Cathedral was built on the initiative of Catholicos Melchisedec I, by the architect Arsukisdze.