Gori Fortress ( ka, გორის ციხე, "Goris Tsikhe") is a medieval

citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...

in Georgia, situated above the city of Gori on a rocky hill. Standing on the hilltop, the fortress's outlines follow the natural relief, hence the irregular shape. The inner fortifications occupy the entire plateau, from which the walls descend towards the road along the western slope. Originally, the walls reached the river below and the water had to be diverted through a tunnel, but the river has retreated since.Закарая, П. (1983) Памятники Восточной Грузии. Искусство, Москва, 376 с. akaraya, P. Monuments of Eastern GeorgiaIn Russian) The fortress first appears in records from the 13th century, but archaeological evidence shows that the area had already been fortified in the final centuries BCE. The fortress was of major strategic importance, given its dominant position guarding a regional trade route, and accommodated a large garrison. In the 16th century the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

captured it to overawe

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

. In 1598 the Georgians, led by their king

Simon I Simon I may refer to: * Simon I (High Priest) (310–291 or 300–270 BCE) * Simon I de Montfort (1025–1087) * Simon I de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton (died c. 1111) * Simon I, Duke of Lorraine (1076–1138) * Simon I, Count of Saarbrü ...

, besieged it for nine months to no avail; in 1599 they feigned relieving the siege for

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

and then launched a surprise night attack to regain control over the citadel. The fortress continued to change hands between the Georgians and the Persians in the 17th century. The citadel acquired its present-day form under the Georgian kings Rostom of Kartli in the 1630s and Erekle II in 1774. Following its completion, King Rostom asked the Italian missionary Cristophoro Castelli, who lived in Gori, to draw the fortress. His stunning illustration from approximately 1642 is a valuable historical document. After the Russian annexation of Georgia in 1801, the fortress was garrisoned by a Russian grenadier battalion, but its importance gradually declined and the fortifications went defunct. The city plan of 1824 shows the citadel, the city on the hill slopes and a moat encircling both. The British '' Encyclopædia Metropolitana'' reported in 1845: Gori Fortress was significantly damaged by an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

in 1920. The best preserved structure is Tskhra-kara ("the Nine-gated"), facing to the west and adjoined by supplementary walls on the south and east.

Gallery

File:Sharaf_al-Din_Ali_Yazdi._Timur_Besieges_the_Georgian_Castle_of_Gortin._Miniature_manuscripts_(15th_century).jpg,

Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi or Sharif al-Din Ali’ Yazdi ( fa, شرف الدین علی یزدی; died 1454, Yazd), also known by his pen name Sharaf, was a 15th-century Persian scholar who authored several works in the arts and sciences, including ...

, ''

Timur Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...

besieges the Georgian Castle of Gorin'' File:Gori fortress, c 1642.jpg, Gori fortress, by

Cristoforo Castelli Teramo Cristoforo Castelli (1597 – 3 October 1659) was an Italian Theatines, Theatine missionary, born of a noble family, who spent twenty-two years in Georgia (country), Georgia from 1632 to 1654. He left seven volumes of travel notes and pen-a ...

, circa 1642 File:Gori Fortress.jpg, Gori Fortress File:Gori Fortress 2.jpg, Gates of the fortress File:Gori Fortress, Georgia.jpg, Pathway to the fortress File:Goristsikhe fortress, Georgia.jpg, Gori fortress from the north side

References

{{coord, 41, 59, 10, N, 44, 06, 29, E, region:GE_type:landmark_source:kolossus-cswiki, display=title Castles and forts in Georgia (country) Buildings and structures in Gori, Georgia Tourist attractions in Shida Kartli