Mokva Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - one of the architectural and religious sites republic of Abkhazia. Erected in the second half of the X century. by order of the Abkhaz king of Leon III, the cathedral is located 15 km from the town of Ochamchira, on an island at the confluence of two rivers - Mokwa and Duab.

To have survived the terrible legend associated with the construction of the temple. According to legend, it is very cruel and greedy king Leon III, refusing to pay the architect for the construction of the cathedral, accused of the fact that from the top of the dome of the temple poorly reviewed immediate vicinity. At a time when the architect, trying to refute the charges, climbed the stairs to the dome, the king ordered to remove the ladder, leaving at the height of the master die of hunger.

Status Mokva Cathedral was very significant in the Abkhazian lands, once a monastery and episcopal see, and he served as the burial place of the archbishops.

Mokva Cathedral is a cross-domed five-naval temple. According to information that has survived to the present day, the interior of the cathedral was very rich. The walls were covered with unique frescoes.

In the XVII century., When local land was captured by the Turks, the church was completely ransacked. While the cathedral has lost outdoor ornaments and iconostasis. A huge number of church utensils, jewelry and relics were taken out of Abkhazia. Thus, in Khobi Assumption Monastery we found a silver icon Mokva Temple in Mtskheta Cathedral Archbishop's staff appeared, and in Martvili monastery were found ancient Gospel and the Psalter of XI century on parchment. He himself simply left the cathedral.

Large-scale reconstruction of the temple began in the middle of the XIX century. Then the floor was paved with slabs, in the western part of the attached chapel, and a small dome built rotunda. As a result, the reconstruction of carved cornices were removed and replaced with tile roof rail. Inside the temple, the walls were plastered and painted and mosaic on the altar Zabel. These changes are very much influenced by both the external and the internal appearance of the temple. Around the same time the building of the cathedral was turned into a shrine where buried many members of the local nobility, including the last conquer the prince of Abkhazia Mikhail Shervashidze.

Since 2002, the doors of the Cathedral of the Assumption reopened for the faithful.