The cathedral was erected to commemorate the Russian victory in the Caucasus War against the NorthCaucasus mountainous peoples and was named after the medieval Russian saint Alexander Nevsky. It was initially sponsored by the high priest of the Caucasian army Sergey Gumilevsky, military governor count Sheremetev and grand dukeMikhail Nikolayevich. An architectural contest for the cathedral was held in 1865; the government requested it to be executed in "grandiose and magnificent" style and to fit up to 2000 worshippers in the upper church. However, the funds allocated for the project, even with provision for continuing private donations, were insufficient to these purposes. Although the board awarded first prize to a joint collaboration of Victor Schroeter and Andrey Huhn, this eight-dome design was rejected due to high cost. In the end the board chose a simpler design by David Grimm. Grimm reused a cross-shaped pattern invented by Roman Kuzmin, with four symmetrical apses tightly blended into the main volume ; however, his version was extended vertically, radically departing from the flattened shapes of early Byzantine temples. Basic composition of the Tiflis cathedral became a standard for the emerging Byzantine style long before its completion. Construction of the cathedral was launched six years later, April 16, 1871, in the upper part of Alexander’s Garden in Gunibsky Square. However, less than a year later it was suspended indefinitely. Construction resumed in 1889; in April 1891 the builders finished work on the foundation and proceeded with the wallmasonry. 32 years after the contest of 1865, on May 21, 1897, the Cathedral was consecrated by Exarch Vladimir of Georgia. Grimm died the next year. The cathedral, 40 meters high and with a 13-meter dome, was built to be the largest in the Caucasus region. Internal artwork was inspired by recently completed cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow and cathedral of Saint Vladimir in Kiev. Icons were based on prototypes by Fyodor Bruni and Victor Vasnetsov. The cathedral was administered by the Exarchate of Georgia until 1917 when it passed to the recently reinstated autocephalousGeorgian Orthodox Patriarchate. In February 1921, its churchyard became a burial ground for the cadets of Georgian Military School who fell in the fighting with the Soviet Red Army. In 1930, the Cathedral was demolished by the Soviet government to build the House of Government of the Georgian SSR in its place.
