Poti Cathedral

Poti Cathedral - the Church of the Resurrection of the Christ, formerly (Church of the Nativity of the Virgin) in Samegrelo, Poti.

Poti Cathedral is the only Byzantine-style cathedral in Georgia.

History

On June 17, 1895, the Russian emperor allowed the military governor of Kutaisi to set up a special committee for the construction of the Poti Cathedral, headed by Niko Nikoladze. He intended to build a Georgian architectural-style temple, the project of which was created, but apparently, the Russian government rejected it and a new project was developed by Zelenko and Marfeld as an imitation of Hagia Sofia in Istanbul. According to St. Sophia Cathedral. It was almost an exact copy of it, on a reduced scale. The temple was designed for 2,000 people.

On September 14, 1906, on the Feast of the Cross, the Bishop of Guria-Samegrelo, George (Aladashvili), consecrated the foundation of the church in a solemn atmosphere.

On May 22, 1907, a cross was erected on the dome of the temple. It took eight months to build it - the cathedral had three altars, the iconostasis was painted by the artist of the Russian Imperial Academy Dumitrashko, completed in 1908. The icons on the north side of the iconostasis were made in the Greek-Byzantine, in the south-Georgian-Byzantine, and in the Middle Russian-Byzantine style. The icons of St. Nino and David the Builder were among them. In 1932, the communist government of Poti decided to turn the cathedral into a theater. The building has been reconstructed several times, after which its appearance was quite damaged. After the restoration of independence, the dispute between the Georgian Church and the theatrical troupe lasted for a long time, and finally, by the decision of the Poti City Council, the building was handed over to the church.

In November 2005, the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili handed over the keys of the church to the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II.