The building has a shape of a cross, prolonged from east to west, with each arm ended by semicircular apses.[3] The Jvari church is an early example of a "four-apsed church with four niches"[4] domed tetraconch. Between the four apses are three-quarter cylindrical niches, which are open to the central space, and the transition from the square central bay to the base of the dome's drum is effected through three rows of squinches, an architectural achievement of its time. The lower row is made of four larger squinches, the two upper of smaller squinches, and finally the row of 32 facets, holding the dome.