[1] The Urbnisi cathedral stands on the left bank of the Kura river in the eponymous village in the Kareli Municipality, Shida Kartli region, in the eastern part of the old settlement of Urbnisi where archaeological studies uncovered material from the Chalcolithic and the early Bronze Age to the 8th century AD.

In 1103, Urbnisi was one of the two locations of the landmark church council convened by King David IV of Georgia, the other being the nearby Ruisi cathedral.

[2] The interior is composed of three naves separated by four pairs of cruciform pillars with simply profiled imposts hewn out of rectangular stone blocks and cuboid bases.

The pillars and semicircular brick arches supported by them divide the barrel-vaulted central nave into five almost equal sized aisles.

[2] Near the church are other elements of the old Urbnisi settlements such as a circuit wall with ramparts, a 3rd-century bathhouse, a medieval winery, and an aqueduct.