Pitsunda Cathedral

The Cathedral of St. Andrew the Apostle (Sobor v chest' Apostola Andreya Pervozvannogo), also known as the Pitsunda Cathedral (Abkhaz, Ṗicundaṭ°i awax°ama) or Bichvinta Cathedral (bich'vintis t'adzari) is an Eastern Orthodox Cathedral located in Pitsunda, in the Gagra District of the de facto independent Republic of Abkhazia, internationally recognised as constituting a part of Georgia. The cathedral is currently used by the schismatic Abkhazian Orthodox Church and serves as that body's seat, although this usage is disputed by the Georgian Orthodox Church and is considered irregular by the Eastern Orthodox communion generally. Pitsunda Cathedral was built at the end of the 10th century by King Bagrat III of Georgia. It served as the seat of the Georgian Orthodox Catholicate of Abkhazia until the late 16th century when Abkhazia came under the Ottoman hegemony. According to 17th century French traveller Jean Chardin, Catholicos, who no longer lived in Pitsunda, visited the cathedral once a year with the retinue of bishops and princes to perform the sanctification of chrism. The cathedral was reconsecrated in 1869 when Abkhazia was already a part of Russian Empire. It is a cross-domed cathedral with three naves and three apses, shaped as a rectang

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).