Holy Trinity Cathedral, known locally as Sameba, is the largest cathedral in the Caucasus and one of the most architecturally ambitious religious buildings erected anywhere in the world in the past century. Consecrated in 2004 after a decade of construction, it rises 84 metres above the Avlabari plateau on Tbilisi's eastern bank, its golden dome visible from nearly every corner of the city. Though some architectural purists debate its historicist style — a blend of traditional Georgian Orthodox forms scaled up to monumental proportions — few visitors can deny the sheer drama of arriving at its base and craning upward at a structure that seems to have grown rather than been built.
Religious Place