Bodbe monastery
Confession: Georgian Orthodox Church
Foundation date: IX-XI centuries.
Status:Active monastery
Condition: Good
From Tbilisi: 110 km / 1 hour 41 minutes
Bodbe Monasteryis located 2 km from Sighnaghi. The monastery in 2006 was included in the list of “Immovable cultural monuments of national importance”. According to legend, Saint Nino, the enlightener of Georgia, was buried here in 347. She served here for some time before her death. On the site of the temple built in the 9th-11th centuries, which has not survived, a new three-nave Cathedral of St. George was built strong>. In the 19th century, a three-story bell tower was built nearby.
The complex preserves a monument of Georgian architecture – three-nave basilica (with three pointed apses). With its original architectural forms, it dates back to the early feudal era. There are traces of restoration in the 17th and 19th centuries. According to the inscription, the church was extensively renovated and painted in the 1920s under the leadership of Metropolitan John Makashvili from Sighnaghi and Kiziki. It has now been significantly modified both inside and out.
In 1889, Russian Emperor Alexander III visited Bodbe, and on his order, a nunnery was opened. During this period, the number of sisters in the monastery reached three hundred. There was a school there for noble women. In 1906, by order of Emperor Nicholas II, this sanctuary was awarded the title of first class monastery. In 1924 the monastery was closed. In 1991, with the blessing of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilya II, monastic life, interrupted during Soviet times, was restored in Bodbe.
One of the greatest relics of the monastery is the miraculousicon of the Mother of GodIberia.It was used as an operating table in the hospital ward, opened during the communist era. Then the Virgin Mary appeared to the doctor and ordered the icon to be moved to its original location.
