In a rapidly developing city along the Black sea, local architect Giorgi Khmaladze has designed a glazed, faceted form, complete with an interior garden. The building is located in one of the newly urbanized parts of the seaside city of Batumi, Georgia. It includes fuels station, McDonald’s, recreational spaces and reflective pool. Location: Batumi, Georgia - via...
The Besleti Bridge also known as the Queen Tamar Bridge is a medieval arched stone bridge at Sukhumi, Georgia’s breakaway republic of Abkhazia. Located some 6 km from the city center, the bridge spans the small mountain River Besletka, and dates back to the late 12th century. Thirty-five meters in overall length (the arch itself is 13.3 m) and eight meters high, this single-arch bridge is one of the most illustrative examples of the medieval bridge design popular during the reign of Tamar of Georgia (r. 1184-1213) who is traditionally credited to have commissioned the construction of the Beslet bridge. A contemporary inscription in the early Georgian asomtavruli alphabet reads: “Christ the Lord, glorify in every possible way in both lives.” An engraved cross and the Greek Τ have survived in the lower part of the left pillar of the bridge. A stone stele with Georgian...
Vardzia is a cave city that was founded by Queen Tamar in 1185. An earthquake in the 13th century destroyed about two thirds of it and exposed the caves to outside view. Before the earthquake nothing of the city could be seen from the outside, there were merely two entrances, one on each side. These days a few monks still live there and the caves can be visited. Some of the frescoes are still preserved as is a spring inside the mountain. The monastery was constructed as protection from the Mongols. and consisted of over six thousand apartments in a thirteen story complex. The city included a church, a throne room, and a complex irrigation system watering terraced farmlands. The church was reinforced and an externally visible bell tower added during the reign of Beka Jakheli in the thirteenth century. Persians commanded by Shah Tahmasp I raided the monastery in 1551, capturing all...
In modern day Georgia a monk of the Orthodox Church, Fr. Maxim, is restoring with aid from local villagers a small 1200 year old monastic chapel on top of Katskhi Pillar. The pillar is a natural rock formation jutting upwards from the ground to a height of approximately one hundred forty feet. It was known to be used by stylites as late as the 15th century when foreign occupation by the Islamic Ottoman Empire brought an end to the practice. Upon completion Fr. Maxim hopes to take up residence on top of Katskhi as a stylite monk. Address: Georgia, Imereti region, Chiatura, village Katskhi. Sources: Wikipedia,...