 The Sioni church is built of neatly hewn yellow sandstone blocks and externally measures 24 × 24 metres.It is a three-nave building with a centrally located dome, with an oblong rectangular ground plan.The Samshvilde church bears marked similarities to the church of Tsromi in Shida Kartli in its plan and conception, but here, unlike Tsromi, two long ambulatory galleries ran on the south and north, ending in separate chapels ("eukterion") on the east.