Poti St. Virgin Mary Cathedral

St. Virgin Mary Cathedral is Poti's one of the prominent monuments and the only Neo Byzantine style Orthodox Christian church in existence of Georgia.

Georgian writer, pro-Western enlightened, and Mayor of Poti Niko Nikoladze directly contributed to the building of the church by choosing its location in the city center, to make the remarkable building well viewable from every side of Poti.

Russian architects Alexander Zelenko and Robert Marfeld miniaturized reproduction of Saint Sophia’s Church of Constantinople (Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia) for 2,000-person capacity. Foundations for the church were laid on September 14, 1906 – during the Ascension holiday, its construction was finished in 1907. The ornaments and decorations are modeled after the medieval Christian cathedrals in the Trabzon mountains.

Poti Cathedral has three iconostases. Among the main decorations of the iconostasis should be mentioned icons of St. Nino, St. Andrew the First-Called, and the St. David the Builder.

In 1923, when the Red Army invaded Georgia, the cathedral was turned into a theater by the Soviet government, the bells were donated to the industrialization foundation.

In 2005, the cathedral was restored to the Georgian Orthodox Church.

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