SHIO-GVIME MONASTERY

The site is breathtakingly beautiful. It is a rocky amphitheatre in the heart of the gorge shaped by the Mtkvari River. Religious buildings are carved on a gigantic ochre-coloured cliff. We are in the middle of the mountains, in a natural cirque surrounded by cliffs, themselves pierced by caves. Over the centuries, the monks have had the genius to find the most grandiose and remote natural settings in which to build their churches.

Shiomgvime, 'Shio's Cave', was founded according to tradition in the 6th century by Shio, one of the thirteen Assyrian missionary fathers who came to evangelize Georgia. This ascetic would have seen this place in a dream. He would have come to withdraw there and live as a hermit in a crevice in the rock, where he is buried. The oldest building, the church of St. John the Baptist, is said to have been built between 560 and 580. It is a small monument in the shape of a cross. Its original structures have remained virtually unchanged until our time. The upper building, the Church of the Assumption, was built by King David the Builder at the beginning of the 12th century, but destroyed by successive invasions. The present structure dates back to 1678.

The monastery, thanks to the miracles of Saint Shio, soon became the seat of the most important monastic community in the country. More than 2,000 monks lived there. The site also became the most important cultural and spiritual centre in Georgia. King David the Builder (1089-1125) made it a royal domain and established the rules of monastic life as early as 1120. In the following centuries, the monastery was the prey of successive destructions perpetuated by the armies of Persian, Ottoman, and Persian invaders, before being closed in Soviet times.

The complex consists of three buildings. To the right as you go up the hill is the oldest church, St John the Baptist, built between 560 and 580. This small building, which has survived through the centuries almost unchanged, though austere, still contains beautiful frescoes; to the right of the altar, St. Shio is depicted there accompanied by Christ and the Virgin Mary. The adjacent building houses the refectory, built in the 12th and renovated in the 17th century. It would communicate with the Shio cave, which is not accessible to the public.

The Church of the Assumption, dominating the whole, reveals a simple and beautiful decoration. A fresco on the left depicts Saint Nino and the "life-giving column" that is said to have been made at the instigation of King David himself. On the ceiling you will see the "eye of God".