Akhaltsikhe

Akhaltsikhe (ახალციხე in Georgian, Ախալցխա in Armenian, Ахалцихе in Russian) is a 16,943 inhabitants town by the small river Potskhovi, in the southern part of Georgia. It's the capital and biggest town of the administrative region of Samtskhe-Javakheti. Akhaltsikhe used to have a majority of Armenian population and even today there's a significant Armenian minority (around 27%). 

How do I arrive to Akhaltsikhe?

  Akhaltsikhe isn't bad connected with other towns in Georgia and neighbouring countries. 

• Train: there used to be trains that reached Akhaltsikhe but nowadays the nearest station is located in Borjomi.
• Bus: there are marshutkas from places like Borjomi (aprox. 1 hour) in Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, Ninotsminda in Javakheti National Park and Vardzia (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes), Gori (aprox. 2 hours 30 minutes), Khulo and Kutaisi (aprox. 3 hours 30 minutes), Tbilisi (aprox. 4 hours) or Batumi (aprox. 6 hours). There are also marshutkas to Gyumri (aprox. 3 hours 30 minutes) and Yerevan (aprox. 7 hours) in Armenia.
• Car: if you rented a car, from Akhaltsikhe it can be reached Abastumani (aprox. 35 minutes), Borjomi (aprox. 50 minutes) in Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, Bakuriani and Vardzia (aprox. 1 hour 20 minutes), Akhalkalaki (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes), Ninotsminda (aprox. 2 hours) in Javakheti National Park, Kutaisi and Tbilisi (aprox. 3 hours 10 minutes), Batumi (aprox. 4 hours 45 minutes) and Kutaisi (aprox. 2.5 hours). It could also be reached from Gyumri (aprox. 3 hours), Vanadzor (aprox. 4 hours) or Yerevan (aprox. 5 hours) in Armenia and Ardahan (aprox. 2 hours) or Kars (aprox. 2 hours 40 minutes) in Turkey.
  

History

  Akhaltsikhe is first mentioned in the chronicles in the 12th century, being the seat of the House of Akhaltsikhe, dukes of Samtskhe Duchy, in the 12th-13th centuries. From the 13th up to the 17th century the city and the whole region of Samtkhe were governed by the House of Jakeli. The city suffered numerous invasions by Mongols, Iranians and Turks, and in 1576 the Ottomans took Akhaltsikhe and made it the residence of pasha. From 1628 the city became the centre of the Akhalzik Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire (being then known as Ahıska). During the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, Russian troops under the command of General Paskevich captured the city and, as a consequence of the Treaty of Adrianople (1829), it was ceded to the Russian Empire. Once in the Russian Empire it was first part of Kutais and then Tiflis Governorates. Akhaltsikhe was again occupied by the Ottoman Empire for several months in 1918. Samtskhe, also known as Meskheti, used to have a majority of inhabitants that are defined as Meskhetian Turks, who were deported in 1944 under Stalin to Central Asia (they made areound 50% of Samtskhe population in 1926). Akhaltsikhe had an Armenian majority population (mostly coming from Kars and Arzrum, in Turkey) with important Georgian and Russian minorities, that was transformed into a Georgian majority with an important Armenian minority population after the fall of the Soviet Union. During the Soviet period Akhaltsikhe was the industrial center of southern Georgia.
 

What can I visit in Akhaltsikhe?

  Akhaltsikhe isn't a very touristic place but it's still a very charming town. Its main streets are Khmaladze, Guramishvili, Kazbegi or Atoneli, being well worth to have a walk along them. Here it can also be a good base to visit the main sightseeing points of Samtskhe-Javakheti.

These are Akhaltsikhe's main attractions:

• Rabati Castle (9-20; 6₾/ 3₾  adults/ students): fortress built in the 9th century (then known as Lomisa Castle) by Guaram Mampal, son of the King of Tao, according to the Georgian Chronicles. From the 13th to the late-14th centuries it was the capital city of Samtskhe-Saatabago, ruled by the House of Jakeli. The castle resisted the armies of Tamerlane, Turko-Mongol invasions and in 1590 it came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Entering the Upper Citadel, it can be visited the main parts of the castle, with more apparent Ottoman influence. It has a traditional Ottoman-style courtyard, Rabati Mosque, a gold-domed Ottoman mosque built in 1752, or St. Marine Church in Rabati (church built in 1865). It was in semiruined state and has been comprehensively renovated, although it feels a bit twisted.
  
• Samtskhe-Javakheti History Museum (10-18 Tue-Sun; 3₾/ 1₾  adults/ students): museum that has well-displayed exhibits about the history of the region of Samtskhe-Javakheti, from archaeological finds of Kura-Araxes culture from the 4th-millennium-BC, Chirstian stone carvings, the oldest surviving fragment of the Georgian epic poem The Knight in the Panther’s Skin by Shota Rustaveli to Ottoman and Georgian weaponry. It also has regional costumes from the 18th and 19th centuries. The museum is placed inside Rabati Castle. 
  
• Old Akhaltsikhe Synagogue: Georgian rite synagogue built in 1863 with a beautiful interior of painted wood. It was extensively renovated in 2012 and has a museum where the portraits of the generations of rabbis who have officiated here. Not far from here there's the Jewish Cementery of Akhaltsikhe, that houses tombs that even go back to the 17th century (some have inscriptions in Ladino).
  
• Amaghleba Georgian Orthodox Church: nice central-domed church completed in 2010. In front of the church there is a monument of Queen Tamar with a spring, where getting great views of Rabati Castle.
  
• Surb Nshan Armenian Apostolic Church: church with an impressive silhouette, regarded as one of the most beautiful Armenian churches in Georgia (the only church donated to the Armenian Orthodox community, apart of the churches of Tbilisi and Yavakhtia). Around the church you can see ancient Armenian tombs, khachkars.
• Close to Akhaltsikhe, only 11 km south, there's the Sapara Monastery. This monastery complex clinging to a cliff edge is one of the most important sights in the region, with its origin dating back to the 9th century. It was the residence of the House of Jakeli in the 13th century too. The complex has twelve church and among them, the most spectacular ones are Midzinebis Church (earliest building in the complex that is characterised for its patronike, rich carvings and its iconostasis) and St. Saba Church (main church of the complex, from the 13th-14th centuries, that was the residence and crypt of the Jakeli and that has outstanding frescoes).
  

Rabati Castle

Sapara Monastery

 

 

 

 

Agara Monastery

On the outskirts of Akhaltsikhe there are plenty of things and places to visit. In the way to Turkey, 12 km far from Akhaltsikhe, the visitor can find the Ghvtismshoblis Church of Vale, a Georgian Orthodox 16th century basilica with three nave and some remains of an earlier 10th-century domed church (such as relief sculptures of laymen, clergy, and equestrian saints as well as cornices and window frames). Decorations are found above each window of the eastern façade and around the entrances, having numerous reliefs. Also close to the Turkish border is placed Jakismani Monastery, a monastery complex that consists of a main church (a hall-church from the 9th century, with stylistically features of churches in Javakheti), two small chapels, and a ruined narthex. Another religious complex in the area is Agara Monastery, a Georgian Orthodox complex that consists of the main church (10th-11th century temple regarded as the largest single church nave in Georgia), the reflector, the 13th-14th century bell tower and other ruins.

Old house in Abastumani

In case of going to the west, there are several places where stopping and discover new sites out of the beaten track. One of them is the town of Abastumani (აბასთუმანი in Georgian), a village with 937 inhabitants that is 30 km far from Akhaltsikhe that is a less modern, cheaper and more authentic alternative to Bakuriani to know the mountains of the Lesser Caucasus. It's an old Russian-Soviet therapeutic sanatorium founded
in the 19th century for its clean air, to cure the asthma or tuberculosis. Here it's also located the Georgian National Astrophysical Observatory, located in  strange buildings with big domes founded in 1932 (here 558 stars wered discovered until the fall of the Soviet Union).

Zarzma Monastery

Continuing towards Adjara the visitor can stop at Okros Tsikhe Fortress (14th century fortress that is one of largest medieval fortifications in Georgia, playing a prominent role in the defense of Samtskhe against the invading Ottoman army in 1578), also known as golden fortress; Zanavi Fortress (ruins of a medieval fortress which is difficult to acess); Tchule Monastery (14th century Georgian Orthodox church that is a major religious and cultural center in south Georgia and an example of decline in Georgian architecture and monumental painting due to two hundred years of Mongol dominance), being abandoned by 1595 and repared in the 1930s; and Zarzma Monastery, 14th century monastery complex with a series of buildings dominated by a domed church and a belfry, one of the largest and most beautiful of this period in Georgia. It has a great variety of frescoes, in particular portraits of saints from the 14th century or a series of portraits of Jakeli family and historical figures of the 16th century (including Sargis I, Beka I, Sargis II, Qvarqvare I or Bagrat III of Imereti).

Vardzia

Driving 60 km far from Akhaltsikhe it can be found one of the main sightseeing points in whole Georgia, Vardzia (10-19; 7₾/ 1₾  adults/ students). This remarkable cave city is both a cultural symbol and a spectacular natural phenomenon, making it one of the highlights of every visit in Georgia. The first fortification here was built in the 12th century by Giorgi III and his daughter, Queen Tamar, established a cave monastery that grew into a holy city housing like 2000 monks, renowned as a spiritual bastion of Christendom’s eastern frontier. A major earthquake in 1283 began the long decline of Vardzia although since the end of Soviet rule it has again become a working monastery, with some caves inhabited by monks. The complex has over 400 rooms, 13 churches and 25 wine cellars, ranging over 13 floors. At the heart of the cave complex is Ghvtismshoblis Midzinebis Church, whose façade is gone but has a beautiful interior (with frescoes depicting New Testament scenes or Giorgi III and Tamar before she married) and a two-arched, bell-hung portico. Vardzia has great views of the surrounding nature too. Nearby it can also be visited Vanis Kvabebi (free), another cave monastery that predated Vardzia by four centuries, although far less visited. Some monks have reoccupied some of the caves, after centuries of abandonment, and it can be climbed up to the little white domed church, high up the cliff, by a series of wooden ladders inside the rock.

Khertvisi Fortress

In the way to Vardzia it's a good idea to make some stops to visit other places. The closest to Akhaltsikhe is Shoreti Monastery, a monastery complex built between the 7th and 15th centuries, notable for mosaic adornments and medieval inscriptions. Then there's Khertvisi Fortress (free). This impressive 10th to 14th century fortress perched on a rocky crag above the meeting of the rivers Paravani and Mtkvari is one of the oldest fortresses in Georgia (according to a local legend, Khertvisi was once destroyed by Alexander the Great). It is composed of the citadel with towers and the lower yard, surrounding the citadel from the south and east. In the road to Vardzia, a few kilometers far from Vardzia, are located the Ruins of Tmogvi Castle, remains of the once near-impregnable castle by river Kura from the 10th century that was a crucial military stronghold in the region of Javakheti. Shalikashvili family were the last rulers of the fortress in the 16th century. Close to these ruins are Zeda Tmogvi Church (a Georgian Orthodox three-nave basilica built in the reign of Bagrat IV of Georgia, whose façades contain several inscriptions that make mention of historical persons of that time) and Tsunda Church (a Georgian Orthodox temple that dates back to the 12th-13th centuries with rather poors decorations). Around Zeda Tmogvi Church stands an abandoned settlement that was left to ruin after the deportation of local Meskhetian Turks by the Soviet Union in 1944.

Where can I eat in Akhaltsikhe?

  Akhaltsikhe has a humble culinary offer but there are some places where eating in a good way such as the following Georgian food places: the restaurant Mimino (Eqvtime Atoneli 108-2), Old Pub (Orbeliani 2) or the restaurant of Hotel Lomsia [ლომსია] (Kostava 10).

Posted in: Europe,Georgia