View of Mtskheta through time

Mtskheta 1885–1964 8 photos of this spot

8 photographs taken at the same spot in Mtskheta, spanning 1885–1964 — 8 of them from before 1980. Line them up and watch the place change.

Mtskheta, one of Georgia's oldest cities and a former capital of the Kingdom of Iberia, seen here in an 1880s photograph taken near the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers.

View of Mtskheta 1885 Mtskheta, one of Georgia's oldest cities and a former capital of the Kingdom of Iberia, seen here in an 1880s photograph taken near the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers.

Mtskheta (E. Platz) 1900 A view of Mtskheta around 1900, credited to the photographer E. Platz. The town, at the meeting point of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers, was the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Iberia.

Ermakov. General view of Mtskheta 1900 A general view of Mtskheta photographed around 1900 by Dmitri Ermakov, one of the most prolific documentarians of the Caucasus in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Mtskheta, Georgia (early 20th century photo) 1910 Mtskheta, ancient capital of Georgia at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers, photographed in the early 20th century. The town remained a center of Georgian Orthodox Christianity long after losing its political importance.

501 - Mtskheta (ancient capital of Georgia) and the Kura river 1964 Mtskheta, the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Iberia, seen along the Kura river in this 1964 photograph. The town predates Tbilisi as Georgia's political and spiritual center and remains a focal point of Georgian Christianity.

503 - Mtskheta Orthodox church of St. Tskhoveli 1964 Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta, seat of the Georgian Orthodox Church, photographed in 1964. Tradition holds that the cathedral stands on the site where Christ's robe is said to be buried, making it one of Georgia's most venerated churches.

512 - Jvari monastery (near Mtskheta) 1964 Jvari Monastery, perched on a mountain overlooking Mtskheta, dates to the sixth century and is among the earliest surviving examples of Georgian church architecture. This photograph was taken in 1964.

513 - Jvari Monastery 1964 A further 1964 photograph of Jvari Monastery above Mtskheta, the early medieval church built near the confluence of the Aragvi and Kura rivers, a site regarded as sacred in Georgian tradition long before the monastery itself was built.