- Type
- Fortress
- Location
- Shida Kartli, Georgia
- Coordinates
- 41.9861°, 44.1081°
History
The hill above the confluence of the Kura and the Liakhvi was already fortified in the last centuries BC, as archaeology shows, and the fortress of Gori appears in records from the 13th century. Lying on the main route through Kartli, it was fought over constantly: between the 16th and 18th centuries it changed hands many times between the kings of Kartli, the Persians and the Ottoman Turks. The citadel owes its present form to rebuilding by King Rostom in the 1630s and by Erekle II in 1774. After Russia annexed Georgia in 1801 a Russian grenadier battalion was stationed here, and an earthquake in 1920 badly damaged the walls. The ruins have since been consolidated and opened as one of the town's landmarks.
What to see
A gentle path climbs to the top of the hill from the town centre. An oval ring of stone walls and towers encloses the empty interior of the former citadel, and the ramparts look out over the whole of Gori, the Kura valley and the snowy peaks of the Caucasus to the north. At the foot of the hill stands the Georgian Warriors Memorial – eight bronze figures seated in a circle, cast by Gogi Ochiauri in 1981–1985 and moved here in 2009 from Tbilisi's Vake Park.
Wikipedia article Wikidata Q339097
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