Mtskheta Jvari Monastery (Temple)

Directly in front of the city Mtskheta, on the mountain there is the 6th century Mtskheta Jvari Monastery. Here the river Aragvi joins the Mtkvari. The origin of the name of Mtskheta Jvari Temple has a historical basis. After the proclamation of Christianity as the state religion, King Mirian III erected a high wooden cross on a stone pedestal. This small chapel is called the Small Temple of the Cross or "Small Cross" today. The temple, with its scale and divisions, organically merges with the mountain and the whole environment. It is erected on a rectangular piazza. A relief cross is in the center of the hemisphere of the dome, which has an artistic and constructive purpose. The building was a pedestal of the cross in front of the altar, which included an inscribed stone, which is kept in the Georgian State Museum.