Mtskheta-Mtianeti
From the ancient capital Mtskheta (Svetitskhoveli, Jvari) to the highlands of Kazbegi and Khevsureti.
Mtskheta-Mtianeti unites Georgia's oldest capital with high mountain country, from Mtskheta at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi to the snow-capped peaks of Kazbegi on the Russian border. The historical territory covers Khevi, Pshavi, Khevsureti, Mtiuleti and Gudamakari.
Mtskheta was the capital of the Kingdom of Iberia from the 3rd century BC and remains the country's spiritual centre, where Georgian kings were crowned and buried; Mtskheta's churches are on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
Mountainous Khevsureti and Pshavi lived for centuries almost independently of the rest of Georgia, preserving unique stone fortress-tower architecture, local dialects and pre-Christian customs interwoven with Orthodoxy.
The costume of highland Khevsureti and Pshavi is one of the most recognisable in Georgia. The women's sadiato dress was knee-length, decorated with beadwork and intricate geometric appliqué; headdresses bore cross-shaped patterns, while Pshav women wore a tavchita headdress adorned with silver coins and crosses.
The Khevsur men's chokha was short and trapezoid-shaped, richly decorated with crosses and icons on the chest and with side slits to the waist. In Pshavi, men and women alike wore a shared woollen garment called juba; underneath it, women wore a shirt and an elongated jacket, the sagule.
What to see
- Jvari MonasteryA 6th-century church on a cliff above the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi, on the spot where, tradition holds, St Nino raised Georgia's first cross; the founder of the «jvari» architectural type, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Svetitskhoveli CathedralAn 11th-century cathedral in Mtskheta, which tradition holds houses Christ's robe; the coronation and burial place of Georgian kings, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Ananuri FortressA 16th–18th-century fortress and church complex on the Georgian Military Highway by the Zhinvali reservoir, the seat of the Dukes (Eristavi) of Aragvi.
- Gergeti Trinity ChurchA 14th-century church at 2,170 m at the foot of Mount Kazbek (5,054 m), one of Georgia's most iconic views; a refuge where Mtskheta's treasures were hidden in troubled times.
- Shatili fortress-villageA unique complex of some sixty interlocking defensive towers from the 12th–18th centuries in the deep Arghuni gorge, the heart of historical Khevsureti, on UNESCO's Tentative List.