Description of the attraction
Anchiskhati Basilica (Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary) is one of the oldest buildings and the oldest surviving temples in the city of Tbilisi. Built in the VI Art. the church is a basilica with horseshoe-shaped apses, which also testifies to the antiquity of the building.
Initially, the temple was built from blocks of yellow tuff, but in 1958-1964 ordinary brick was used during the restoration. The temple has three exits from different sides, while now only one is used. All church icons date from the 19th century, except for the altarpiece, which was created in 1683 by order of Catholicos Nicholas VI.
According to ancient Georgian chronicles, the temple was built by the king of Iberia, Dachi Ujarmeli (522-534), who made Tbilisi his capital.
The temple dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary received the second name Anchiskhati after 1664 in honor of the icon of the Savior, which was transferred from the Anchis Cathedral. In this way, the priests tried to save the valuable icon from the Ottoman Turks. In the XII Art. the goldsmith B. Opizari made a silver setting for the old icon with gold inserts. In the Anchiskhati church, the icon was kept for about 200 years. Then it was transferred to the Museum of Art of Georgia.
From the 15th to the 17th century due to the frequent wars of Georgia with the Turks and Persians, the temple was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. In the second half of the XVII century. the church building was extensively redesigned. The restoration work was supervised by the Kartlian Catholicos Domentius. In the 1870s. a vault was added to the temple. In the XIX century. on the western side of the Anchiskhati Basilica, an adjoining bell tower and a dome were added. As for the paintings, they also belong to the XIX Art.
In Soviet times, the church was converted into a museum of handicrafts, after which it housed an art workshop. During 1958-1964. restoration work was carried out in the temple, which returned it to its original appearance. The work was supervised by the architect R. Gverdtsiteli. In 1989, the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary reopened its doors to parishioners.
