The St .Gevorg Cathedral of Georgia is located in the Meydan district of Old Tbilisi. The Saint Gevorg Cathedral is one of the oldest Christian structures in Tbilisi and was one of the Armenian medieval spiritual, cultural and enlightening centers. The roof of the church is covered with bright turquoise ceramic tiles.
St.Gevorg Cathedral was built by prince Umek. Prince Umek managed to solve a problem between Georgian and Arab authorities, for which the Georgian king expressed willingness to reward him. Prince Umek got permission for the construction of Armenian Church in the highest place of Old Tbilisi which was called Sololak district. Over the centuries the temple many times was damaged during various invasions, burned down, but again restored and still stands. The recent and substantial renovation of the church with the initiative for the Development of Armenia (IDeA) was completed in autumn 2015. During the restoration works it became clear that St. George is not only one of the oldest churches in Georgia and one of the architectural values of the country. During the reconstruction it became also clear that the entrance and by-sacristy walls, arch niches and columns are decorated with the paintings of the Hovnatanians and Gevorg Bashinjaghian. The experts assure that even in Armenia it will be difficult to find a church, which is completely decorated with such a valuable frescoes. Diocese Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, who was looking after the work of the professionals, says that every day a new miracle was discovered under centuries-old layers of the walls. Initially the reconstruction project had a plan to reconstruct 220 square meters of frescoes but they surprised when it turned out that there were other real treasures hidden under centuries-old layers of the walls such as Hovnatanyans Bashinjagyan illustrations, rare pieces of Armenian decorative art, which are not actually covers 220 square meters but the entire area of the church. In order to preserve these treasures safe an Italian expert was invited to Tbilisi. “The Armenian Pearl” of Tbilisi now is so perfect as it was in the 13th century. When foreign tourists ask what church it is even Georgians answer with Armenian accent “Saint George”.
The yard of the Cathedral of St. George Cathedral houses the tombs of Sayat-Nova, Gevorg Bashinjaghian, Mikhail Loris-Melikov, Arshak Ter-Gukasov, Ivan Lazarev and Boris Shelkovnikov.
