The Anchiskhati Basilica of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is the oldest surviving church in Tbilisi, dating to the early 6th century. It was constructed during the reign of King Dachi of Iberia, the successor of Vakhtang I Gorgasali, who moved the capital to Tbilisi. The church is a three-nave basilica, a design characteristic of early Georgian ecclesiastical architecture. It was originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The church gained its current name, "Anchiskhati," meaning "Icon of Ancha," in the 17th century after the revered 6th-century Anchiskhati icon of the Savior, a major Georgian religious relic, was relocated here for safekeeping from the Ancha monastery in Klarjeti during the Ottoman invasions. The building has undergone several significant restorations throughout its history due to damage from various conflicts and natural disasters. A major reconstruction occurred in the 17th century under Catholicos Domentius IV. The bell-tower was added in 1675. In the 19th century, the church was significantly altered when it was transferred to a Georgian Catholic parish, but it was later returned to the Georgian Orthodox Church and restored to its original Orthodox form in the 1950s and 1960s. For a period, the building housed a state museum of handicrafts, but it was reconsecrated for religious services in 1991. The Anchiskhati Basilica remains an active church and is a protected national monument, representing a continuous link to the earliest Christian history of Georgia's capital.