The tradition holds that Stepanoz I, son of Guaram, built the Great Church between about 590 and 605. Cyril Toumanoff reads the inscribed names as Stepanoz II, Demetre and Adarnase II instead. The article names no architect, though a kneeling figure on the south of the drum may depict him.
The church stands on a rocky mountaintop 2,152 feet (656 m) high, where the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers meet, and it survives almost unchanged. It is cross-shaped, with a semicircular apse on each arm and a dome on an 8-faceted drum, resting on the walls rather than pillars. It is less than 82 feet (25 m) high. It became the prototype of the Jvari type.
Exterior reliefs show Hellenistic and Sassanian influences. UNESCO listed it in 1994 with other Mtskheta monuments. The article gives no visiting details.
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