Queen Darejan Palace (Sachino Palace) – In 70s of XVIII century, Erekle II of Kartli-Kakheti, built a palace for his wife Queen Darejan, with apartments, utility rooms and the Court Church.
The towers, walls and pillars of the palace, were built of cobblestones and Georgian bricks. The palace was decorated with a round wooden balcony. Avlabari was the suburb beyond the walls of Metekhi. Avlabari was the place where the roads from the North and the East met and where the Customs officer and a guard stood.
Avlabari was an agricultural and the craftsmen’s multi-functional workshops area and it became deserted because of the Ottoman invasions between 1723 and 1735. The Queen’s incomes List made by Queen Darejan in 1800, proves that, by the Queen’s order Avlabari was fenced with a stone wall in 1774. From a small door in the Avlabari Wall were starting “Avchala Road,” Garden Road and Kakheti Road. It was possible to get into the city by the Avlabari Bridge (a large bridge for carts and other transport) and by the so-called “Donkey Bridge” (for pedestrians). After fencing Eastern Gate of the city, King Erekle II of Kartli-Kakheti, built a palace for Queen Darejan with the Court Church.
The Church was blessed as “Irakli and Daria the Martyr’s Churh”. Queen Darejan’s Palace was the Royal Summer Residence, which was called “Sachino” and the palace and the Church were severely damaged during Agha-Mohammad Khan invasion in 1795 though it was soon restored. However, after the death of Erekle II (1798) Queen Darejan spent here the last years of her being in her homeland as by the order of the Russian Emperor, Queen was exiled to Saint-Petersburg in 1803 where she died and was buried in Alexander Neveli Monastery.
The Exarch Theofilacte bought Queen Darejan Church and opened an ecclesiastical seminary and a congregation school. In 1824, Exarch John blessed the Church under the name – ”Transfiguration of Jesus”. Later Fathers Monastery opened there. There were many sanctities in the monastery. They were taken out of the monastery for different reasons. In 1922, with the blessing of Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia Holy Ambrosi, the monastery life in the Cathedral was restored.
After the Sovietization of the complex, the complex was reconstructed many times; some new parts were added to it. The church and palace area were used as the utility units of different profiles. There was also opened “One Actor Theatre”. In 1990 then he church was transferred to the Patriarchate of Georgia and with the blessing of His Holiness Ilia II, Nunnery was opened there.