Bodbe Monastery

Bodbe Monastery ბოდბის მონასტერი
Bodbe Monastery
Shown within Georgia (country)
Basic information
Location	2 km from Sighnaghi, Kakheti Province (Mkhare),  Georgia
Geographic coordinates	41°36′24″N 45°56′00″E / 41.6066°N 45.9334°E / 41.6066; 45.9334Coordinates: 41°36′24″N 45°56′00″E / 41.6066°N 45.9334°E / 41.6066; 45.9334
Affiliation	Georgian Orthodox Church
Region	Caucasus
Completed	17th century

The Monastery of St. Nino at Bodbe (Georgian: ბოდბის წმინდა ნინოს მონასტერი, bodbis ts’minda Ninos monasteri) is a Georgian Orthodox monastic complex and the seat of the Bishops of Bodbe located 2 km from the town of Sighnaghi, Kakheti, Georgia. Originally built in the 9th century, it has been significantly remodeled, especially in the 17th century. The monastery now functions as a nunnery and is one of the major pilgrimage sites in Georgia, due to its association with St. Nino, the 4th-century female evangelist of Georgians, whose relics are shrined there.

The Bodbe Monastery is nested among tall Cypress trees on a steep hillside overlooking the Alazani Valley, where it commands views of the Greater Caucasus mountains.

The extant church – a three-nave basilica with three protruding apses – was originally built between the 9th and 11th centuries, but has been significantly modified since then. Both exterior and interior walls have been plastered and bear the traces of restoration carried out in the 17th and 19th centuries. It consists of a small hall church with an apse built over St. Nino’s grave that is integrated into a larger aisled basilica. A free-standing three-storey bell-tower was erected between 1862 and 1885. Part of the 17th-century wall surrounding the basilica was demolished and the earlier original one restored in 2003.

Some 3 km from the convent, a small Chapel of St. Zabulon and St. Sosana was constructed, in the 1990s, to house a St. Nino’s Spring, which, according to a local legend, emerged through Nino’s prayers and is believed to have a healing power.