Nino Bagrationi Giorgi Bagrationi	Giorgi Bagrationi Gia Shervashidze

This church, commonly known as the Church of Tigran Honents, stands on the outskirts of the town of Ani, above the Akhuriani River.

The inscription on the south facade of the church mentions that the building was commissioned in 1215 bya rich Armenian merchant Tigran Honents,who was an Orthodox Christian. The church was subordinated to the Patriarchate of Mtskheta.

This is a cruciform church of the so-called kuppelhalle type with its dome supported by lateral wall projections. The interior walls of the church are plastered and painted with murals. The exterior is faced with neatly hewn stone. The facades are decorated with an arcade and a twisted geometrical and floral ornaments among which animal and bird figural representations are inserted.

The entrance to the church is from the west. A portal and a large meeting hall zhamatun, typical of Armenian tradition, are of a later addition. The central door tympanum had an inscription in asomtavruli (majuscule) script.

Inscriptions in asomtavruli script are also present around the twisted cross on the west, as well as on the east facade.

Painting church walls with murals is believed to have started in the period when Ani was under a Georgian rule. There are portraits of the Holy Fathers accompanied with inscriptions in the sanctuary, and scenes depicting the scenes from the Great Feasts on the side walls. The west cross-arm features to cycles which makes it particularly remarkable. The scenes depict the enlighteners of Georgia and Armenia, namely St Nino, St Gayane and St Hripsime, as well as the life of Gregory the Enlightener, which is an illustration of Georgian redaction. Ani murals are important as long as they present the miraculous scene of erecting the holy pillar and the holy women, including St Nino.

The paintings contain numerous Georgian inscriptions of which most notable is the extract from the Psalm 118:20: ‘This gate of the Lord: into which the righteous shall enter‘.

Near the church lies a 15th century tombstone with an epitaph of Atabag Shanshe Amirakhor.