The foundation of the Catholic church in Tbilisi was laid in 1804 under the direction of the Capuchin mission. By 1808 the small, neat and light church was solemnly consecrated. In 1814 the church grounds were enclosed with a wall; by then a school and a small room for the sick were already operating here. In 1937 the church fell victim to the Bolshevik repressions. On August 15, 1999, the Pope's personal envoy, Archbishop Giovanni Battista Re, consecrated the Catholic cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.