GeorgiaOfficial tourism
Tbilisi Sioni Cathedral

Where Georgia's faith took root in stone

Tbilisi Sioni Cathedral

Why go

Sioni Cathedral has anchored Tbilisi's spiritual life since the 6th century, though rebuilt repeatedly by invading armies. Its greatest treasure once hung here: the Grapevine Cross of St. Nino, who brought Christianity to Georgia in 337 AD. Legend says she fashioned it from her own hair bound with grapevines, and it worked miracles across the land. The cross survived Arab, Persian, Mongol and Soviet assaults, hidden in monastery walls and smuggled across borders, before finding permanent sanctuary at the Georgian National Museum. Sioni remains the seat of the Catholicos-Patriarch, its layered stone bearing witness to fifteen centuries of resilience. Come for the weight of continuity, the sense of a nation repeatedly remade around this single point.

On the ground See

  • The 19th-century bell tower with its distinctive blue-tiled dome, added after Persian destruction
  • The carved stone throne of the Catholicos-Patriarch, used for enthronements since the medieval period
  • The exterior fortress walls—Sioni was built as a combined church-citadel against raiders from the east

Practical Know before you go

Open daily 8am-10pm; modest dress required; the original Grapevine Cross of St. Nino is preserved inside the cathedral itself, enshrined beside the main iconostasis and viewable through glass.

Last reviewed 25 August 2026 · reviewed quarterly