Georgien

The lands of Georgia have been settled since earliest times, and in antiquity they were home to the kingdoms of Colchis on the Black Sea, known from the Greek myth of the Golden Fleece, and Iberia in the east. In the fo…

From 1466, after the disintegration of the united Georgian Kingdom, Imereti was an independent kingdom. It faced frequent invasions in the 17th and 18th centuries and was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1810; its last …

According to a famous legend, King Vakhtang I of Iberia was hunting in the forest when his falcon and a pheasant fell into a hot spring. Impressed by the warm waters, he decided to build a city there – the origin of Tbi…

After 1463, Guria became a sovereign principality independent of the Kingdom of Georgia, ruled by a branch of the Vardanidze-Dadiani house known as the Gurieli. At its height it included modern Guria and much of Adjara …

Kvemo Kartli, meaning Lower Kartli, is both a historic province and a present-day region in south-eastern Georgia. As part of Kartli, it belonged to the heartland of the ancient Georgian kingdom of Iberia and lies along…

In 1614 the Ottomans conquered Adjara, beginning some two hundred years of Ottoman presence. During this time many Adjarians gradually converted to Islam, the nobility first, yet the population kept its Georgian languag…

Samtskhe–Javakheti unites the historic Georgian provinces of Meskheti (Samtskhe), Javakheti and Tori, highland lands with a rich medieval heritage – among them the cave monastery of Vardzia, carved into a cliff above th…

After the disintegration of the united Georgian Kingdom, Kakheti became an independent kingdom in the 1460s. Under the long reigns of Alexander I, Levan and Alexander II, it enjoyed peace and prosperity: the population …

The region takes its name from Mtskheta, one of the oldest towns in Georgia and the ancient capital of the kingdom of Iberia, until King Dachi moved the capital to Tbilisi in the 6th century. Mtskheta is also closely li…

At the end of the 10th century, the Saeristavo of Racha was created, a medieval duchy that gave the mountain region its own identity. Earlier, Racha had formed part of Egrisi, together with Takveri and later Lechkhumi. …

Shida Kartli, meaning Inner Kartli, takes its name from the historical-geographic province at the heart of Georgia. Kartli was the core of the ancient Georgian kingdom of Iberia, and its fertile lands along the Mtkvari …

Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti brings together two historic Georgian provinces with very different characters: Samegrelo, or Mingrelia, in the lowlands, and Zemo Svaneti, Upper Svaneti, high in the Caucasus. Each has its own la…

The name Abkhazia refers to a land on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, between the mountains of the Greater Caucasus and the sea. In antiquity this coast belonged to the world of Colchis, famous in Greek legend as th…

Tbilisi, in some countries also still known by its pre-1936 international designation Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 m…

Tbilisi, in some countries also still known by its pre-1936 international designation Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 m…

Tbilisi, in some countries also still known by its pre-1936 international designation Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 m…

In ancient times, the region was a part of the Kingdom of Colchis, until it was conquered by the Kingdom of Pontus. After the Third Mithridatic War, Colchis was under loose Roman control, and unsuccessfully revolted in …

Imereti (Georgian: იმერეთი, pronounced [imeɾetʰi]) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region i…

=== Museums === The Georgian National Museum is the umbrella organisation for a dozen museums and other sites in Tbilisi and elsewhere, with practical info in English. Usually they charge 7 lari for an adult, and are cl…

=== Early history === Archaeologists discovered evidence of continuous habitation of the Tbilisi suburb of Dighomi since the early Bronze Age, and stone artifacts dating to the Paleolithic age. During the late Bronze Ag…