The patriarchal Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, one of the most important 11th century monuments. For centuries it was the religious centre of Christian Georgia. As early as the 4th century, the converted King Mirian built the first Church here on St Nino’s advice. The foundation traces of this Church were revealed during the restoration work at Svetitskhoveli in 1970-1971. The restoration also revealed the ground plan of the basilica, built here in the second half of the 5th century by King Vakhtang Gorgasali, after the falling apart of St Nino’s wooden Church. In the 11th century the damaged basilica was replaced with a new cathedral built by Melchisedec, Catholicos of Kartli, who had invited architect Arsukisdze for this purpose. The construction started in 1010 and was over by 1029.
Svetitskhoveli, known as the burial site of Christ's mantle, has long been the principal Georgian church and remains one of the most venerated places of worship to this day. According to Georgian hagiography, in the 1st century AD a Georgian Jew from Mtskheta named Elias was in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified. Elias bought Jesus’ robe from a Roman soldier at Golgotha and brought it back to Georgia. Returning to his native city, he was met by his sister Sidonia who upon touching the robe immediately died from the emotions engendered by the sacred object. The robe could not be removed from her grasp, so she was buried with it. The place where Sidonia is buried with Christ's robe is preserved in the Cathedral. On the south side there is a small stone church built into the Cathedral. This is a symbolic copy of the Chapel of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Built between the end of the 13th and the beginning the 14th centuries, it was erected here to mark Svetitskhoveli as the second most sacred place in the world (after the church of Jerusalem), thanks to Christ’s robe. In front of this stone chapel, the most westerly structure aligned with the columns between the aisle and the nave marks Sidonia’s grave.
The Cathedral presently functions as the seat of the archbishop of Mtskheta, Tbilisi and all Abkhazia who is at the same time Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia.
