Jvari Monastery
Channel: all the knowledge of the universe PRINCIPIA
Date: 2022-01-13

Jvari Monastery, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1005467 / CC BY SA 3.0

#545_establishments
#605
#Christian_monasteries_established_in_the_6th_century
#Georgian_Orthodox_monasteries
#Religious_sites_in_Georgia_(country)
#Georgian_Orthodox_churches_in_Mtskheta
#World_Heritage_Sites_in_Georgia_(country)
Jvari Monastery （Georgian: ჯვრის მონასტერი） is a sixth-century Georgian Orthodox monastery near Mtskheta, eastern Georgia.
Along with other historic structures of Mtskheta, it is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Jvari is a rare case of the Early Medieval Georgian church that survived to the present day almost unchanged.
The church became the founder of its type, the Jvari type of church architecture, prevalent in Georgia and Armenia.
Built atop of Jvari Mount （656 m a.s.l.）, the monastery is an example of harmonious connection with the natural environment, characteristic to Georgian architecture.
Jvari Monastery stands on the rocky mountaintop at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers, overlooking the town of Mtskheta, which was formerly the capital of the Kingdom of Iberia.
According to traditional accounts, on this location in the early 4th century Saint Nino, a female evangelist credited with converting King Mirian III of Iberia to Christianity, erected a large wooden （or vine） cross on the site of a pagan temple.
The cross was reportedly able to work miracles and therefore drew pilgrims from all over the Caucasus.
A small church was erected over the remnants of the wooden cross in c.
545 during the rule of Guaram I, and named the "Small Church of Jvari", which can still be seen adjacent to the main church from the north.
The small church did not satisfy the needs of popular pilgrimage site, and the present building, or "Great Church of Jvari", is generally held to have been built between 590 and
605 by Guaram's son Erismtavari Stepanoz I. This is based on the Jvari inscriptions on its facade which mentions the principal builders...