Akhalkalaki

Akhalkalaki, the “new town,” stands on the high Javakheti plateau between the Paravani and Murjakheti rivers. A settlement here grew into a fortified town in the eleventh century, when Georgian nobles built its walls. The fortress guarded the region's approaches and became a political and economic center of Javakheti. Its builders incorporated older stonework into the medieval defenses.

Through the later Middle Ages and the early modern period, the fortress served both Georgian rulers and the armies that conquered the region. Under Ottoman rule its complex included a mosque as well as the citadel and towers. Russian forces took Akhalkalaki during the war of 1828–1829; around 1830 Armenian refugees from the Erzurum region settled in the area. The town's name and its fortifications preserve the memory of the Georgian city that preceded these changes.