Mtskheta

No, the above word is not a typo. Au contraire, it is the name of the ancient Georgian capital, and hence incredibly important. Just in case you were wondering, ‘kh’ in Georgian is pronounced with the expectorant voluptuousness of a middle-Eastern ‘h’. And, no, there are no silent letters.

One thing I probably need to work on is remembering names of places around here. My memory is somewhat hampered, however, by the extreme proliferation of consonants, that make any Southern Slavic language sound like Italian by comparison. So for now I will use my guide book as reference, and having avowed that, I will need to beg for your understanding if at any one time a particular name eludes me or is misspelled (again, this is definitely not the case for the title of this post).

So Mtskheta is the old capital of Georgia. Considering that Tbilisi itself was founded around the fifth century, this makes Mtskheta pretty darn old. In fact, it has been the centre of Georgian spirituality since Christianity became the official religion during the first half of the fourth century. While there is little left of the town itself, there remain four churches, as well as a stunning view of the confluence of Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers.

The first church I visited was the 11^th century Sveti-Tskhoveli Cathedral, which consists of an imposing Georgian-style building, dominated by its conic dome and surrounded by a walled-in interior courtyard. According to the legend, this is where Christ’s robe ended up after being taken here by two Jewish merchants in the 1^st century. Unfortunately, the robe location is enclosed by a square structure in the middle of the church, and as a result out of sight. The church lies on the site of the first ever Georgian church (dating from the 4^th century C.E.) and has been damaged, destroyed and rebuilt several times since the 11^th century. It is the burial site of many kings from East Georgia.

While Sveti-Tskhoveli lies close to the banks of the river, Jvari church is visible from far away thanks to its strategic location on top of one of the surrounding hills. The church itself (as the other sites around Mtskheta) is classified as UNESCO World Heritage, and rightly so. At the time of my visit, there was a religious ceremony in progress. Rites and chanting reminded me of Romanian Orthodox churches, and so did the garb of priests and monks. Yet religious songs had a melodic beauty that seemed to stray from the Gregorian-style chanting you hear in most Orthodox churches.

Probably the most stunning thing about the trip to Mtskheta was the view from Jvari. The hill overlooks the valleys of Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers, and offers a perfect viewpoint from observing the surrounding valleys, mountains and hills that dot the landscape. It is obviously pointless to offer any more description without providing photographic evidence. Suffice it to say that the beauty of the area dwarves most of the landscapes I have seen throughout my journeys.