Urbnisi Cathedral and the remains of an ancient city – Urbnisi cathedral stands in the center of a village spread on the high grounds of the Mtkvari (Kura) River bank. In early VI c AD, during the construction of the cathedral a large developed ancient city had existed here, finally devastated and perished in VIII c. after the invasion of the Arabs headed by Mervan the Deaf – a strict commander and brutal conqueror. Some good proofs of the existence or that city were found during the archaeological excavations.
The cathedral has got the three-nave basilica configuration with four pairs of cross-shaped columns and tri-partial sanctuary, so the apse has got lateral rooms. This type of layout is worth to be mentioned as far as until the very fell of V c. AD no churches have got such kind of rooms. The original sections with horseshoeshaped vaults, better preserved in the interior than on rather mixed and reconstructed façades, are built of neatly hewn stones. Among numerous reconstructions, (for instance, according to an inscription curved on a stone slab one of them was conducted in the turn of IX-X cc), the refurbishment carried out by Marry, Queen of Kartli, in 1668 was the most important.
Upper sections of the building – vaults of the interior coupled with several other elements, and the central nave walls with huge crosses outlined by means of brick laying tecnique were made at those times. Not even a single part of the original ambulatory encircling the building from three sides have survived, but the initial majesty of the construction can unmistakably be defined through monumentality and distant solemnity of internal vaults. A well – tempered three-storied porch with residential rooms and a ball-tower on the first and top floors respectivelly, constructed in 1706 by King of Kartli Vakhtang VI, the poet and the legislator, stands westward of the church.
