Mts'khet'a Things to Do

Jvari (or Djvari) monastery stands on a hill overhanging Mskheta in the South-east. It is close to the city and can easily be seen from Sveti Skhoveli but it rained hard and we felt that the rainy and foggy landscape was not worth the climb and we skipped it, as we had skipped Bebris Tsikhe.
It is a cruciform church and the main historical landmark of Georgia. It was built in the Vith century in a place where Saint Nino is said to have erected a wooden cross.

Sveti Shkoveli is famous among Ufologists. On a 17th century fresco depicting the crucifixion of Jesus, they have spotted a pair of flying saucers painted on each side of the Christ. I have not been convinced and feel that the two “things” are more likely to be flying jelly fishes!

I was amazed to see a young lady that came out of the church, speaking in her cellular telephone. After a few feet outside, she turned back and kneeled, as almost everybody did, but did not stop to speak on her phone!

Sveti Skhoveli is a highly venerated place of worship for Georgians. The cathedral that we see today was built in the Xith century at the place where stood a much older church, built in the Ivth century. Several legends are associated to this first church. To make short a long story, it would have been built with seven cedar column including one that was still able to grow, hence the name of the cathedral, which means "the Living Pillar Cathedral"

Georgian language is not an Indo-European language. Therefore, it has nothing to do neither with Latin nor Germanic nor Slavic languages. No Indo-European root can be found in Georgian and when there seems to be one, it is a false friend (linguists would say “false cognate”). Sveti Shkoveli is a good example. At first sight, it makes sense to link it to the Slavic “Sveti”, same root and same meaning as Saint. It would make sense that a church named “Sveti Skhoveli” would mean “Church of Saint Shkoveli” but as said above, the meaning is entirely different !

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On each side of the gate, stands a cows’head. They deserve the name of “Holy cow” (LOL).

I have searched but I have not found why there were these two cow’s head, which rather unusual in a religious surroundings. Anybody knows ?

In Sveti Skhoveli as in most churches in Georgia, the bell tower stands outside of the church itself. It sits on the inner side of the ramparts. There is a staircase that leads to the bells but there was a locked gate that did not allow to visit. Too bad, besides the bells, there should have been a nice look on the cathedral.

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The cathedral of Sveti Skhoveli (or Svetishoveli or Sveti-Tskhoveli) was built Xth or XIth century, but the ramparts around the cathedral were built in the 18th century to protect it when Georgia was split between several local kings that fought each other

The bell tower of Stamvro church stands apart from the church. It has three levels, all of them with arched apertures. The first and the second level were built on a square pattern while the third level is circular. The first level has four apertures (one on each side), the second level eight and the third level twelve. I suspect it has a religious meaning but have not found any substantiation about it.