Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin

History of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin

According to historical sources, the church was built by Catholic missionaries. In 1628, Padre Ambrosio and his servant Petre came to Gori in order to hand over the holy relics of the martyred Queen Ketevan to King Teimuraz I. 

The missionaries received a church from the king as a gift, whose renovation was completed in 1632. It was then renamed to St. Peter’s Church. King Teimuraz’s goodwill toward the missionaries later soured, and the church changed hands numerous times afterward. It was given its current look between 1806 and 1810.

The Architecture of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin

The crossed-dome church is made of bricks. The tholobate of the dome is richly decorated, and the interior was painted in the second half of the 19th century. 

A powerful earthquake in 1920 damaged the church, and during the Soviet period it lost its function as many other churches on the territories annexed by the Soviet regime. During the Soviet period, Gori Music School was located there. It was during this period of religious oppression that much of the church’s decorated interior was damaged.

In 1990 the church was transferred to the hands of the Georgian Orthodox Church.  In 2003, during the restoration of the church, frescoes that had been whitewashed in 1950 were scraped clean. A three-story bell tower and wall were built in the churchyard. 

In 2008, the Gori Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin was granted the status of a Cultural Heritage Monument.