Ananuri Fortress
Available as a monument or as a church for up to 200 people.
Ananuri Fortress is a castle complex on the Aragvi River in Georgia.
Dating back to around the 12th century it was originally a hill fort and barrier to the enemy in the Vedzathevi gorge.
Legend has it that during a prolonged siege the Georgian soldiers in the fort would taunt the invading Tatar enemy by throwing fish in the air. There was a hidden tunnel to the lake which the enemy soldiers searched for but couldn’t find. One day they captured a woman from Nuri. They tortured and killed her but she wouldn’t give away the location of the tunnel. Her name was Ana and it is beleived the fort is named after her, she is now a Georgian hero.
The area has been a battlefield for many centuries and the road leading to Ananuri is known as the Georgian Military road.
The castle has seen many wars and through the 17th and 18th centuries was home to the Eristavis (dukes) of Aragvi, some of which are buried in the church. After the dukes were ousted it became shelter to the residents of Tblisi and the old King Erekle II who escaped from a massacre by the Persians.
In the early 19th century an agreement to unify Georgia and Russia was signed and a garrison of Russian forces was deployed to the castle. Its task was to protect the people and the Georgian Military Road running through the main Caucasian ridge.
The castle was eventually abandoned and lay empty for a number of years before becoming an area of archeological interest.
It is now a Unesco world heritage site.
This is not an exact copy of the building, it is my own version made from looking at photo’s although I have tried to stay as true to the original as I could.
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