A translation bureau for Mtskheta - TARGMANEBI's service for a town where the church and its history create a document flow of their own. A foreigner who wants to be married at Svetitskhoveli or to have a child baptised there prepares one set of documents for the church and, after the wedding or the baptism, a different set for the authorities of their own country. Both sets are translated, the second with an apostille as well. This is the field where civil and ecclesiastical documents meet, and the translator has to know the logic of both.
Mtskheta's second flow is cultural heritage - international restoration projects, UNESCO reports, grants from foreign foundations, archaeological expeditions at Armazi and Samtavro. The third is Tserovani, Georgia's largest settlement for displaced people, where families hold documents issued in Tskhinvali and Akhalgori. The fourth is property: Mtskheta has become a suburb of Tbilisi and foreigners buy houses here too. The fifth is what every municipality has - families abroad.
A wedding and a baptism for a foreigner - what gets translated
In Georgia a church marriage takes place after or alongside civil registration, and the foreign party needs papers for both. For a baptism the church asks for the child's birth documents and the parents' papers, while the baptism certificate later becomes something to submit abroad, to another church or to a school:
Before the wedding
- Civil marriage certificate - Georgian or foreign, with apostille and translation
- The foreign party's baptism certificate from their own church, in Georgian
- A certificate that they have not married in church before, or the church document dissolving a previous marriage
- Passport with a notarized Georgian translation
- An interpreter for the preparatory talks and the ceremony, if the church asks for one
For the baptism
- The child's birth certificate - with foreign apostille and Georgian translation
- The parents' marriage certificate and passports
- The godparent's baptism certificate, if the godparent is foreign
- Consent from the other parent, if they are not present
- An interpreter during the rite for foreign parents and godparents
After the wedding and the baptism
- The wedding certificate in the foreign party's language, for their church and family
- The baptism certificate translated for a foreign school, church or authority
- An apostille on a church document, where the state recognises it
- The civil marriage certificate with apostille and translation for residence
- Translation of photograph captions and commemorative book inscriptions
Terminology is a field of its own in church documents: marriage in church, baptism, godparent, chrismation, diocese, celebrant - each has an equivalent established in the receiving church's tradition, and those differ between Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant documents. The translation is made in the receiving church's terminology, and names are checked against the passport, so that the baptism certificate and the birth certificate belong to the same child. An apostille is affixed to a church document only where the issuing and receiving countries recognise it in that form - we establish that before the order.
UNESCO monuments and cultural projects
Svetitskhoveli, Jvari and Samtavro are World Heritage monuments, and there is a constant flow of international projects around them: technical restoration and conservation reports, UNESCO monitoring documents and responses, grant applications and reports for foreign foundations, agreements and publications for archaeological expeditions, texts for exhibitions and tourist information centres. These documents need three translator profiles - technical for restoration, academic for archaeology and history, legal for memoranda and grants - and a terminology base that keeps the names of monuments, periods and techniques identical over years.
Tserovani and documents of displaced families
The Tserovani settlement is in the Mtskheta municipality, and families here hold papers issued before 2008 in Tskhinvali, Akhalgori and the villages of the Liakhvi valley - often in Russian, sometimes lost and surviving only as copies. These documents go to Georgian authorities (restoring identity papers, pensions, inheritance), to court (rights over property left behind) and abroad (residence, family reunification) with a notarized Georgian translation. The names of issuing authorities and place names are carried across exactly as the document has them, with the modern form added in a note; all of one family's papers are handled as a single package so that names are written identically everywhere. The courier reaches Tserovani as it does Mtskheta - or the family comes to the Tbilisi office themselves, half an hour away.
Property in Mtskheta - the Tbilisi suburb
Mukhrani, Saguramo, Dzegvi, Natakhtari - Mtskheta's villages have become places where people from Tbilisi and abroad live and holiday. When the buyer is foreign, the notary asks for their passport with a notarized Georgian translation and for an interpreter at the deal, in Mtskheta or Tbilisi; the sale contract itself is drawn up in two languages, the buyer takes the registry extract away in a language they read, and if they are not in Georgia an apostilled power of attorney is translated. The Mukhrani wineries and the Saguramo hotels need foreign-language material and export documents, handled the same way as the Kakheti cellars.
Mtskheta families
Beyond the church and the monuments, Mtskheta families need the same papers as people in Tbilisi - for a visa, a university, a bank, the pension agency, a power of attorney from a child abroad. There is one difference: a Mtskheta resident has a choice. Either a courier to Mtskheta, or the Tbilisi office at 118 Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue, Monday to Friday 10:00-19:00 and Saturday 11:00-19:00, where you hand the document over in person and collect the certified version the same week.
Languages in orders from Mtskheta
Because of the weddings and the tourism, English, Russian, Italian, German and French are the most frequent languages in Mtskheta - citizens of exactly those countries marry here. Greek is the language of Orthodox church documents, Polish and Spanish of Catholic ones; Ukrainian, Turkish, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch and Czech are tied to tourism, property and cultural projects.
The process - by courier or in person
A photo or a visit
Photos of the documents by WhatsApp or by email to info@targmanebi.ge - or come to the Tbilisi office and we will look at the document on the spot. From Mtskheta that is twenty minutes.
Church, authority or abroad
Tell us who is asking - the church, the Public Service Hall, a foreign authority - and which country; that decides the terminology, the certification and whether an apostille is needed.
The right translator profile
A church document goes into the receiving church's terminology, a cultural project to an academic or technical translator, a displaced family's papers to an official documents translator; names are checked against the passport.
Delivery in Mtskheta or at the office
You receive the file at once; certified paper comes by courier to Mtskheta or Tserovani, or you collect it at the office during working hours without calling ahead.
Price and turnaround
An order from Mtskheta is at Tbilisi prices, and the courier here is the cheapest of all or not needed at all. A church or civil certificate with notarization is in your hands in two to three days, and faster on the urgent queue before a wedding; the timing of an apostille depends on the issuing authority; a cultural project report goes by volume; a handwritten document from a displaced family is quoted after deciphering. An interpreter at a wedding or at the notary is by prior arrangement, priced by duration. Mariam Zumadze, the sole trader who heads the bureau (ID 30601010853), meets Mtskheta clients personally at the Tbilisi office - we treat an error in a church document as seriously as one in a court paper, and correct a confirmed inaccuracy free of charge.
Marrying a foreign partner at Svetitskhoveli, baptising a child with a foreign godparent, working on a heritage project, or holding an old document in Tserovani? Write to us or come in - the Tbilisi office is twenty minutes from Mtskheta.
Call: 501 113 200Frequently asked questions - translation in Mtskheta
We want to marry an Italian partner at Svetitskhoveli. Which of their documents does the church need?
Usually the baptism certificate from their own church, a certificate that they have not married in church before, the passport, and the civil marriage certificate if you are already registered - in Georgian, with notarization. The exact list is set by the diocese or the priest; send us their answer and we will shape the package to it.
The wedding certificate is needed in Italy by the church and the comune. Can it be apostilled?
An apostille is affixed to a church document only where the issuing and receiving countries recognise it in that form, which varies by country and which we establish before the order. The civil marriage certificate always goes apostilled and translated; the church wedding certificate goes in the Italian church's terminology.
The child was born in England and we want the baptism in Mtskheta. What gets translated?
The English birth certificate with its apostille into Georgian with notarization, plus the parents' documents; and the godparent's baptism certificate if they are foreign. After the baptism we prepare an English translation of the Georgian baptism certificate for the English school and church, with the child's name spelled identically.
Does the interpreter attend the wedding itself?
Yes, by prior arrangement - at the preparatory talks with the priest and during the rite, if the church requires it or the couple wants it. The interpreter knows the church terminology and conveys the service calmly to the foreign party in the equivalents of their own church.
We live in Tserovani and hold a 1990 Tskhinvali certificate in Russian. Where and how?
Into Georgian, with notarization, using the issuing authority's name as it stood at the time and a present-day note. Send the photo from Tserovani or bring it to the Tbilisi office - half an hour away. The original is needed only for an apostille, and where you hold only a copy we state that in the translation.
Is it better to come to the Tbilisi office from Mtskheta or use the courier?
Whichever suits you. At the office we look at the document on the spot and you collect the certified version the same week; the courier is convenient when you would rather not travel, or when the original is going off for an apostille. Either way you receive the file in the chat.
Translation bureau in the other cities of Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Mtskheta is the gateway to the region - Dusheti, Tianeti, Pasanauri, Zhinvali, Sioni and Stepantsminda follow, with the needs of the military road and the mountains. Choose your city.