Jvari Monastery, Georgia: UNESCO World Heritage Site

Jvari Monastery, Georgia: UNESCO World Heritage Site – the interior

The Jvari Monastery in Mtskheta, 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, is a 6th century Georgian Orthodox monastery. Since 1994, it is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The view of the dome from the inside shows that the dome rests on the walls, and not on pillars, therefore creating a single space.

Under the dome, near the centre of the interior, is a postament with a new wooden cross. The new cross replaces Nino’s cross – the cross of 4th century Saint Nino, a female evangelist credited with converting King Mirian III of Iberia to Christianity. She erected a large cross, made from the branches of a vine, on the original site.

The internal walls were originally covered with ashlar and later plastered and painted in frescos, few of which survived.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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