Catholics from Western Europe settled in Tbilisi in the 1230s. In 1240, Dominican monks founded a monastery in the capital. In 1328, by decree of Pope John XXII, the Episcopal Diocese of Tbilisi was established and the St John the Baptist Cathedral was erected. In the fifteenth century, the bishopric and the monastery were both abolished. From the 1630s, Catholic missionaries again arrived in Tbilisi, firstly from the Theatine Order and later the Capuchin Order. In the eighteenth century, the Capuchins had their mission with the Church of the Annunciation in Kvemo Kala district, on what is now Abesadze (formerly Catholics’) Street. In 1755, King Teimuraz II expropriated the church from the Catholics and bestowed it on the Orthodox Church. In Soviet times, the church building was redeveloped into an apartment building (13 Abesadze Street).
In 1805, Capuchin priest Fra Filippo of Forano launched construction of a new church on the same street. It was consecrated in 1807 to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary; however, it was not until 1814 that the interior decor was completed. Judging from photographs from that time, the church was a simple structure of a rectangular plan with two belfries rising above its pitched roof. It was one of the first structures of Neo-Classical architecture built in Tbilisi.
Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in the 1890s
In 1884, Father Dimitri Tumanishvili renovated and expanded the church. An ambulatory was added to its eastern section and a narthex to the western. The façades and interior were reconstructed in Neo-Gothic style.
The church viewed from the south
After the occupation of Georgia by Bolshevik forces, the Soviet authorities confiscated the church building and transformed it into a grammar school. In 1998, it was returned to the Catholic parish and consecrated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
The western façade
Renovation works were conducted upon the initiative of the Apostolic Administrator of the Caucasus, Giuseppe Pazzoto, according to the architectural project of Anatoli Solomnishvili.
Interior view facing eastwards
In its current form, the church is a single-nave building with a rectangular sanctuary to the east. Imitation Gothic groin vaults made using timber planks cover the nave. To the west, there is a wooden upper gallery for the choir to stand. Each of the longitudinal walls features three large arched stained glass windows.
Interior view facing westwards
The western façade, which faces the street, is left unplastered and its red brick masonry is exposed, while the other façades are plastered and painted a light pinkish color. Having been added in 1884, this façade has a completely Neo-Gothic appearance owing to its pointed arches, wimpergs, and large rose window. Above the entrance, a bronze statue of the Mother of God is set in a niche. The mosaic images of angels on either side of the entrance were produced in 1999.
