Anchiskhati Basilica: The Oldest Church in Tbilisi

Anchiskhati is the oldest surviving church in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia (the country in the South Caucasus), built in the 6th century during the reign of King Dachi of Iberia — the son of Vakhtang Gorgasali who completed the transfer of the Georgian capital from Mtskheta to Tbilisi. That sequence — the founding of the city, the building of its first major church within a generation — places Anchiskhati at the very beginning of Tbilisi's life as a capital. The building has stood in roughly the same spot ever since, outlasting invasions, occupations, and earthquakes across the full arc of the city's fourteen centuries. Roughly contemporary with Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, though far more modest in scale, it is still an active church of the Georgian Orthodox Church today.

What is the Anchiskhati Basilica?

Anchiskhati is the oldest surviving church in Tbilisi — a 6th-century three-nave basilica in the northern part of the Old Town, built under King Dachi around 522–534 and originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It takes its present name from the Anchiskhati icon of Christ, brought here in the 17th century from the Ancha monastery in Klarjeti (now in Turkey) for safekeeping. Architecturally it is the only early basilica of its kind still standing in Tbilisi, predating the domed churches that became the Georgian norm from the 9th century on. It is also closely tied to Georgian sacred polyphony: its choir is among the most celebrated keepers of that UNESCO-recognized tradition. The church is small, modest, and still in active use — and easy to walk past if you're not looking for it.

A church easy to miss

Anchiskhati is easy to miss if you don't know to look for it. It sits on a quiet street in the northern Old Town, its modest facade set slightly back from the lane, with none of the dramatic elevation of Metekhi or the overwhelming scale of the Sameba Cathedral. That modesty is part of its character — stepping through the gate into the small courtyard and finding the old stone in front of you produces a quiet satisfaction the more prominent landmarks rarely offer.

Architecture

Anchiskhati is a three-nave basilica — the early Christian church form, with three parallel naves divided by columns and a rounded apse at the eastern end, that predates the domed cross-in-square plan adopted across Georgia from the 9th century onward. (It should not be confused with the Georgian "three-church basilica," where the naves are separated by solid walls; here they are divided by columns in the classic basilica manner.) The basilica was the dominant early church type throughout the Byzantine world, and its survival here makes Anchiskhati the only example of this early type still standing in Tbilisi — a crucial document of the pre-medieval phase of Georgian church architecture, valuable beyond its age alone.

The building has been modified and partly rebuilt several times across its long history — most significantly in the 17th century, when a bell tower was added and parts of the structure were reconstructed after damage from Persian and Ottoman raids. The original 6th-century church was built of cut yellow tuff stone, some of it still visible in the lower walls; the upper walls and the interior columns were rebuilt in brick in later restorations (the apse, entrance arch, and altar window keep their early form). The current appearance reflects these accumulated interventions rather than a single original design — but the essential character of the early basilica survives: the low, horizontal proportions, the three-nave plan, the sense of enclosure and intimacy that the later domed churches, with their vertical drama, deliberately set aside.

The bell tower, added in the 17th century, introduces a vertical element that contrasts with the low body of the church and has become one of the more recognizable parts of its silhouette in the Old Town streetscape. The interior is correspondingly intimate — smaller and lower than any other significant church in the historic center, its three naves divided by columns, the walls carrying frescoes in varying states of preservation (most of what's visible dates from late-17th-century and 19th-century campaigns, over older fragments), and a finely carved wooden iconostasis. The overall atmosphere is one of accumulated age and quiet devotion.

The name and the icon

The church was originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary — it is still formally the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary — and took the name Anchiskhati ("icon of Ancha") in the 17th century, when the icon that gives it that name was brought here. The Anchiskhati icon is a celebrated medieval image of Christ the Savior, originally kept at the Ancha monastery in the Klarjeti region of historically Georgian territory now within Turkey; its famous silver-gilt setting is the work of the renowned 12th-century goldsmith Beka Opizari, a masterpiece of Georgian metalwork. When Klarjeti came under Ottoman pressure, the icon was brought to Tbilisi (around 1664) and enshrined at this church for safekeeping — giving the basilica the name it has carried since. The original icon is now kept in the Georgian National Museum, but the association between the church and this historically significant object remains part of its identity.

A further detail of its history: Anchiskhati is remembered as the church whose bells were never silenced, even through the long centuries of Arab rule over Tbilisi, which earned it the nickname "Church of the Bell." It served, too, as a center of religious and cultural learning — a seminary and school were established here under King Erekle II in the 18th century. Closed during the Soviet period, like most churches, it returned to active worship in the late 1980s.

Georgian polyphony

Anchiskhati has a particular association with Georgian sacred polyphony — the tradition of three-voice harmony that UNESCO recognizes as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and one of Georgia's most distinctive contributions to world music. The Anchiskhati Choir, which sings here during services, is among the most respected keepers of this tradition, and attending a service when the choir is singing is one of the most memorable musical experiences in Tbilisi. The acoustics of the small basilica suit polyphony in a way larger, more reverberant spaces do not — the sound fills the interior without becoming indistinct, and the combination of ancient stone, candlelight, and three-voice harmony is genuinely moving even for visitors with no religious investment in what they're hearing. Service times vary, but Sunday mornings are the most reliable opportunity to hear the choir.

Getting there and visiting

• Location: Ioane Shavteli Street, northern part of the Old Town, Tbilisi.
• Hours: Open daily, roughly morning to evening; services are held through the week, and the church is open to visitors outside active service periods.
• Admission: Free.
• Dress code: Modest dress required — shoulders and knees covered; women are expected to cover their heads (wraps are often available at the entrance).
• Photography: Generally not permitted inside (to protect the frescoes and the atmosphere of worship); please respect this and any signs.
• Etiquette: This is an active place of worship — move quietly, and avoid disturbing those praying, especially during services.
• Combine with: It's an easy walk from the rest of the Old Town — Sioni Cathedral, the Bridge of Peace, Rike Park, and (across the river) Metekhi; the sulfur baths of Abanotubani and Narikala are a short walk south.