Holly Trinity Cathedral temporarily closed due to fire damage
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, March 22
The Holy Trinity Cathedral (Sameba), which is the third tallest Eastern Orthodox cathedral in the world, is temporarily closed for due to the fire damage, which broke out on March 20 in the printing house, where stationery and other paper items were stored.
The Patriarchate has recommend that church-goers avoid visiting the Cathedral for one week.
They also report that the fire in Sameba Cathedral destroyed an area of 1,200 square meters and damaged 20,000 square meters of the Youth Center, located near the printing house.
On March 20, approximately at 2:00 PM, several individuals noticed smoke that was coming out of a building adjacent to the cathedral. The fire brigade arrived at the scene and about 100 firemen tried to put the fire out.
The exact causes of the fire are still unknown. However, according to the Sameba Archimandrite Ioane Mchedlishvili, experts working on the spot exclude the possibility of electrical malfunction, as the scale of the fire is too large to have been caused by an electrical fault.
“We cannot say whether the fire was caused by someone or not. However, there is no doubt that this was not an electricity malfunction,” noted Archimandrite Ioane.
Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili visited the printing house and was briefed on the results of fire on the site.
The Prime Minister explained that law enforcement agencies are working to identify the causes of the fire. He said the government had launched an investigation Article 192 of the criminal code, which implies deliberate damage of one’s property.
