Akhaltsikhe (Rabati) Castle ( ka, ახალციხის (რაბათის) ციხე) is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

fortress built in the 9th century under the name "Lomsia Castle" in the city of

Akhaltsikhe Akhaltsikhe ( ka, ახალციხე ), formerly known as Lomsia ( ka, ლომსია ), is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region () of Samtskhe–Javakheti. It is the administrative center of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality and ...

in southern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, recently globally reconstructed. One of the main attractions of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region along with

Vardzia Vardzia ( ka, ვარძია ) is a cave monastery site in southern Georgia (country), Georgia, Rock cut architecture, excavated from the slopes of the Erusheti Mountain on the left bank of the Kura (Caspian Sea), Kura River, thirty kilometre ...

Name

The original name of the fortress in the 9th century was Lomsia, which can be translated from Georgian as "Lion". At the end of the 12th century, Lomsia acquired the new name Akhal-tsikhe, which literally translates as “New fortress”, the Arabic name "Rabati" means fortress. Rabati was usually called the trading quarter at the fortress, earlier mainly Jewish merchants and craftsmen lived in the Rabat quarter, however mainly after reconstruction the name stuck to the all fortress itself. On the official web site of municipality of Akhaltsikhe town and on the official Facebook page of the fortress the name is "Akhaltsikhe (Rabati) Castle" was used or just "Akhaltsikhe Castle." In most of all historical documents castle is mentioned as Akhaltsikhe castle

History

According to the '' Georgian Chronicles'' the city was established in the 9th century by Guaram Mampali, son of the King of

Tao The Tao or Dao is the natural way of the universe, primarily as conceived in East Asian philosophy and religion. This seeing of life cannot be grasped as a concept. Rather, it is seen through actual living experience of one's everyday being. T ...

. At the end of the 12th century Lomsia turned into a real city with the new name Akhal-tsikhe (New Fortress), which in addition to the fortress had a serious system of city-wide fortifications – high walls, guarded entrance gates and watch towers. From the 13th to the end of 14th centuries it was the capital city of

Samtskhe-Saatabago The Samtskhe-Saatabago or Samtskhe Atabegate ( ka, სამცხე-საათაბაგო), also called the Principality of Samtskhe (სამცხის სამთავრო), was a Georgian feudal principality in Zemo Kartli, rul ...

, ruled by the Georgian princely (

mtavari ''Mtavari'' ( ka, მთავარი) was a feudal title in Georgia usually translated into English as Prince or Duke. History The earliest instances of the use of ''mtavari'' are in the early Georgian hagiographic texts dated to the 5th cent ...

) family and a ruling dynasty of the Principality of Samtskhe, the

House of Jaqeli The House of Jaqeli ( ka, ჯაყელი) was an old Georgian princely family ('' mtavari'') and a ruling dynasty of the Principality of Samtskhe, an offshoot of the House of Chorchaneli. History "Jaqeli", literally meaning "of/from Jaqi" ...

. In 1393 the city was attacked by the armies of

Tamerlane Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol tradition, Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timuri ...

. Despite the

Turko-Mongol The Turco-Mongol or Turko-Mongol tradition was an ethnocultural synthesis that arose in Asia during the 14th century among the ruling elites of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. The ruling Mongol elites of these khanates eventually assim ...

invasions, the fortress withstood and continued to thrive. After the Treaty of Constantinople in 1590, the whole territory of Samtskhe-Saatabago came under the rule of

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. Metropolitan John writes in the late 18th century that "despite the fact that a large part of the population has been Islamized, there's still a functioning Orthodox church." After the Treaty of Georgievsk between the

Kingdom of Kartli The Kingdom of Kartli ( ka, ქართლის სამეფო, tr) was a late medieval and early modern monarchy in eastern Georgia, centred on the province of Kartli, with its capital at Tbilisi. It emerged in the process of a tripar ...

and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

was signed, the question of the fate of

arose. The first attempt to take the fortress in 1810 failed. However, Prince Paskevich successfully stormed the fortress 18 years later, in the great Battle of Akhaltsikhe. After the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829, the Ottomans yielded this part of Akhaltsikhe Region. The fortress and its adjacent buildings were extensively rebuilt and renovated in 2011–2012 in order to attract more tourists to the area.

Architecture

Akhaltsikhe originally consisted of three parts: the castle, the surrounding citadel and the greater city proper. The castle was surrounded by three ramparts and was connected with adjacent areas by tunnels. Within the citadel, aside from the castle, there was a large courtyard, an arsenal, a mint, a bath and a church. In 1752, Georgian ruler Haji Ahmed-Pasha Jaqeli built a mosque within the castle in the style of the Byzantine Orthodox Church

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

of Constantinople using the typical structure of a Georgian Orthodox church, with an added madrasah and a minaret. The mosque functioned for 76 years until 1828. Later, in 1850 by order of the

Russian emperor The emperor and autocrat of all Russia (, ), also translated as emperor and autocrat of all the Russias, was the official title of the Russian monarch from 1721 to 1917. The title originated in connection with Russia's victory in the Great Nor ...

, it was consecrated in the name of the Virgin Mary and functioned as a church for another 92 years until 1920.

Restoration

In May 2011, the reconstruction of the Rabati fortress began, which was accompanied by the restoration and completion of many buildings that were destroyed in time immemorial. For this purpose, the Government of Georgia allocated 34 million lari from the state budget. As part of the project, the Akhmediye Mosque, the mosque minaret, the

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

h, the Jakeli castle, baths, the citadel, the walls of the fortress and the Orthodox Church were updated on the territory of the fortress. The tunnel leading to the Potskhovi River was also restored. As part of the project, two main streets of the fortress were repaired, a pavement was equipped, and the facades and roofs of buildings were restored.

Panorama

References

{{reflist Castles and forts in Georgia (country) House of Jaqeli Buildings and structures in Samtskhe–Javakheti Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance of Georgia