In Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, the idea of a great new cathedral was born in 1989, to mark 1,500 years of the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church and the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of Christ. An international design competition was won by the architect Archil Mindiashvili, but the laying of the first stone, on 23 November 1995, Saint George’s Day, came six years late because of post-Soviet political and economic chaos. The building went on for nine years, until the consecration, again on 23 November, in 2004, by the Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II, in the presence of representatives of other Orthodox churches and of other religious and political communities of Georgia. The building, in a style that fuses Georgian and Byzantine architectural traditions of the 10th and 11th centuries, reaches, according to Wikipedia, a height above ground of 86.1 metres, or 100.17 with the foundations. The sources differ on the exact world ranking, and the claim, widely repeated online, that it is the «third tallest Orthodox cathedral in the world» is out of date against the updated list on Wikipedia itself, which places it ninth: it remains, in any case, among the tallest in the world. The funding was officially presented as a collection of anonymous donations from Georgian businessmen and citizens, with no direct state subsidy, although the president of the time, Eduard Shevardnadze, later revealed in his memoirs that much of the money came in secret from the businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili, a future Georgian prime minister. Part of the site on which the cathedral stands overlaps the ground of the historic Armenian cemetery of Khojivank, the largest and oldest in Tbilisi, which held for about three centuries up to ninety thousand burials, by estimates of the Armenian community. Its main destruction, however, goes back to the Soviet Thirties, on the orders of Lavrentiy Beria, when the Armenian church on the site was demolished and much of the cemetery levelled, decades before the cathedral existed. According to Armenian community sources and Wikipedia, not independently verified in this research, further remaining burials were disturbed during the building works between 1995 and 2004. The affair remains today, according to specialist Caucasus journalism, a wound of memory felt by the Armenian community of Tbilisi, rather than a formal diplomatic dispute between the two countries. Patriarch Ilia II, who promoted and personally followed the project, led the Georgian Orthodox Church from 1977 until his death, on 17 March 2026 in Tbilisi, at the age of 93, the longest-serving patriarch in the 1,500 years of the history of the Church. His body lay in this very cathedral, with tens of thousands of faithful queuing to pay their respects and free public transport arranged for visitors from the regions, before burial, according to his wishes, in the cathedral of Sioni, in the historic centre of Tbilisi, on 22 March 2026, in the presence, among others, of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I.
About Holy Trinity Cathedral
In Tbilisi, Georgia, the idea for a great new cathedral was conceived in 1989 to mark 1,500 years of the Georgian Orthodox Church’s autocephaly and the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Christ; an international design competition was won by architect Archil Mindiashvili, though the foundation stone, laid on 23 November 1995, Saint George’s Day, came six years late amid post-Soviet political and economic turmoil.
Key facts
- 23 November 1995: foundation stone laid, on Saint George’s Day.
- 23 November 2004: consecrated by Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II, nine years later to the day.
- Roughly 86 meters tall above ground, among the tallest Orthodox cathedrals in the world.
- Partly overlapping the historic Armenian Khojivank cemetery, whose main destruction predates the cathedral.
- 17 March 2026: Patriarch Ilia II dies in Tbilisi at 93, after 49 years leading the Church.
- 22 March 2026: his body lies in state here before burial at Sioni Cathedral.
History
Conceived in 1989 as an assertion of Georgian national and religious identity even as the Soviet Union was collapsing, this cathedral rose over nine years of construction on Elia Hill, on land that partly overlaps Tbilisi’s historic Armenian Khojivank cemetery — a site whose main 1930s destruction under Soviet rule long predates the cathedral, but whose further disturbance during 1995-2004 construction remains, by the account of Tbilisi’s Armenian community, an unhealed grievance. In March 2026, the cathedral became the site of Georgia’s largest recent public mourning, as Patriarch Ilia II, who had personally overseen its construction and led the Church for nearly half a century, lay in state here before burial elsewhere in the city.
What you see
A cross-domed structure blending 10th- and 11th-century Georgian and Byzantine architectural traditions rises on Elia Hill above the Kura River and the historic Avlabari district, its gilded cross and golden dome visible across much of the city, alongside a freestanding bell tower, a patriarchal residence, a monastery, and a theological academy within the wider complex.
Practical information
- Opening hours: generally open daily outside services; check current hours before visiting.
- Address: Elia Hill, Avlabari district, Tbilisi, Georgia (exact street address disputed across sources).
Getting there
The cathedral stands atop Elia Hill on the left bank of the Kura (Mtkvari) River, above Tbilisi’s Avlabari district. GPS: 41°41′51″N, 44°49′00″E.
Nearby
- Sioni Cathedral — Tbilisi’s older historic cathedral in the Old Town, where Patriarch Ilia II is buried.
Sources
- Wikipedia — “Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi,” “Ilia II of Georgia,” and “Khojivank Pantheon”
- Chai Khana — “Places of Memory” series, on the Khojivank Armenian cemetery.
- Euronews and Orthodox Times — coverage of Patriarch Ilia II’s death and funeral, March 2026.
- OC Media — “Huge crowds in Tbilisi bid farewell to Patriarch Ilia II”
- Wikipedia — “Bidzina Ivanishvili,” on the cathedral’s private funding.
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