The Arab conquest of Tbilisi in the eighteenth century entailed settling the Muslim population in the city, which increased the need for a large mosque, and the Tbilisi Central Mosque was built to meet this need. The mosque was built in the place of a Shiite mosque that has existed in the city since the sixteenth century. The mosque building has an impressive eight-cornered minaret. The mosque was built of bricks in the traditional Georgian style, and is currently used as a prayer hall for Sunni and Shiite Muslims.