Top Historic Sights in Bolnisi, Georgia

Explore the historic highlights of Bolnisi

Bolnisi Sioni Cathedral

Bolnisi Sioni Cathedral is a Georgian Orthodox basilica was built in 478–493. It is the oldest extant church building in Georgia. Bolnisi Sioni Cathedral is known for its Georgian Bolnisi inscriptions. These are one of the oldest historical documents of the Georgian alphabet.

Founded: 478-493 AD | Location: Bolnisi, Georgia

Tsughrughasheni Church

Tsughrughasheni is a Georgian Orthodox church in the Bolnisi District, Georgia. It is situated approximately 2 kilometres from Bolnisi Sioni basilica, on the right bank of the Bolnisistsqali River. The church was built in 1212–1222 supposedly by King George IV Lasha of the Bagrationi Dynasty. The Tsughrughasheni church resembles stylistically the other Georgian churches from the 12th–13th centuries – Bet ...

Founded: 1212-1222 | Location: Bolnisi, Georgia

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Mr Phil Price

Historic Site of the week

Caerleon Roman Amphitheatre

Built around AD 90 to entertain the legionaries stationed at the fort of Caerleon (Isca), the impressive amphitheatre was the Roman equivalent of today’s multiplex cinema. Wooden benches provided seating for up to 6,000 spectators, who would gather to watch bloodthirsty displays featuring gladiatorial combat and exotic wild animals.

Long after the Romans left, the amphitheatre took on a new life in Arthurian legend. Geoffrey of Monmouth, the somewhat imaginative 12th-century scholar, wrote in his History of the Kings of Britain that Arthur was crowned in Caerleon and that the ruined amphitheatre was actually the remains of King Arthur’s Round Table.

Today it is the most complete Roman amphitheatre in Britain.