Shio-Mgvime

(also Shiomgvime), a Georgian monastery on the left bank of the Kura River, 10 km west of Mtskheta in the Georgian SSR. Shio-Mgvime was founded in the sixth century A.D. by the monk and preacher Shio, who originally came from Syria. It is surrounded by many caves (in Georgian, mgvime). The monastery’s buildings include a domed cruciform church (550’s-560’s) with a stone altar rail (first quarter of the 11th century), a basilica reconstructed in the 18th century from a 12th-century domed church, a refectory (12th-century, reconstructed 17th century), and a bell tower (18th century). A chapel with wall paintings from the 12th and 13th centuries is near the monastery.