Mamadaviti domed church is located in the south –west of Tbilisi on Mtatsminda. The name Mtatsminda derived from Atoni St. mountain in the 10th century, at the same time the Mtatsminda mountain is called ‘Mamadaviti’ due to the legend saying that St. Father Davit Garejeli lived in the cave of this mountain in the 6th century. On the very place a church was founded in the 10th century that was already functionless as a church in 13th and 14th centuries, but in 1542 a Virgin Mary cloister was restored on the place of the old church by the leadership of the brothers Nikoloz and Davit Gabashvili. In the 18th century the church was functionless and the damaged buildings were gradually being ruined.
In 1810 on the place of the old and empty church a new one was built and a wide and twisted road to the church was made by the order of the General Ermolov in 1817.
St. Davit Garejeli or Mamadaviti church was constructed in 1859-1871, and was domed in 1879.The brick church repeats the cross dome shape from outside, but its interior is without long arms, the space is integral whole. A wooden Patronike (a circle) is placed in the western arm, it has two entrances western and southern.
The church is with simple facades only the upper parts of the arms are surrounded with decorative arch and under the round window of an apse a red stone cross is depicted. The semi circle protruding occupies the whole width of the apses arm and draws attention even from far away. The interior was painted in the 19th century, the majority of the paintings are the Georgian saints, Holy Trinity is depicted in alter.
Three tiered brick chapel is located in the south of the church. The third tier of the chapel, the church bell is made of stone and is opened with arches. The terrace around the Mamadaviti church has officially been announced as a pantheon of writers and public figures since 1929.
