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Samtskhe-Javakheti, Georgia
LAA
Samtskhe-Javakheti, Georgia
LAA
Samtskhe-Javakheti, Georgia
LAA
Samtskhe-Javakheti, Georgia
LAA
Samtskhe-Javakheti, Georgia
LAA
Rabati
REGION
Samtskhe-Javakheti, Georgia
ALTITUDE
~1,000 m
TOP SIGHTS
Rabati Castle complex · Mosque and minaret · Orthodox church and synagogue · History museum · Views over Akhaltsikhe
BEST TIME TO VISIT
Year-round; the castle is floodlit after dark
HOW TO GET
220 km / 3.5 hrs from Tbilisi, 1 hr from Borjomi, on the road to Vardzia
TIME NEEDED
1–2 hours
Rabati Castle dominates the town of Akhaltsikhe from a ridge above the Potskhovi river. The name comes from the Arabic rabad, the fortified quarter outside a citadel, and the site has passed through Georgian, Ottoman and Russian hands, each leaving its layer.
What makes it unusual is what stands inside the walls: an eighteenth-century mosque with its minaret, an Orthodox church, a synagogue and a madrasa, together in one enclosure. Few places in the Caucasus set out their mixed history quite so plainly.
A large-scale reconstruction completed in 2012 rebuilt much of the complex, and opinions differ on how much of what stands is original. As a stop on the road between Borjomi and Vardzia it is hard to beat, particularly in the evening when the walls are lit.
NEARBY LOCATIONS
