Samtskhe - Javakheti

Rabati Complex

Rabati Complex XIII c. AD Akhaltsikhe (The symbol of tolerance) - According to historical records, Tao-Klarjeti's King's son, Guaram, founded Akhaltsikhe in the IX c. The initial name of the city was Lomsia that has changed approximately in the XII c. The Orthodox Cathedral of St. Marine was constructed in the XIX c. in Rabati. Rabati is the only district, where Catholics, Jews, Armenians, Orthodox Christians and Muslims have their own chapels. The oldest among them, which has survived since the XIII c. is St. Loane's Baptist Catholic Church. Only ruins have remained from the Cathedral. Muslim Akhmad Pasha Jakheli built the mosque on the foundation of Orthodox Church, in the style of Aya Sofia mosque with some Orthodox elements. On the place of Mosque - Samtskhe-Javakheti's Historical Museum is functioning. Epigraphic monuments from different centuries are kept in the mosque. The Synagogue was built in 1863 in Rabati. The Armenian Apostolic Church was built in Rabati, next to the Synagogue. In ethnically and religiously divertive Rabati, for the time being, together, Armenians, Jews, Turks, Greeks, Georgians and other ethnic population live in peace for many centuries. However, only two years ago Rabati was given a status of the symbol tolerance.