Sioni Burial Vault

About Sioni Burial Vault

More than 100 graves and a 5th-6th century sarcophagus were unearthed during an archaeological expedition around the basilica, where Sioni lake sits now, in 1962. The graves of both nobles and comparatively poorer people found around the basilica date back to the 4th and 5th centuries. Clay and glass vessels, glass, bronze, iron, silver bracelets, rings, earrings, glass beads, and more items have been found in the stone graves of the nobles.

The basilica and tomb were taken apart and moved to the Tbilisi Ethnographical Museum so the reservoir wouldn’t engulf them. The stones of the grave are kept at the Armazi Base of the Georgian National Museum. 

The archaeological materials of the burial vault are kept at the Dusheti Archaeological Base of the Archaeologist Research Center.