Tamarasheni ( ka, თამარაშენი) is a former village in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, within the territory controlled by separatist

South Ossetia South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated populat ...

, some 0.5 km north of

Tskhinvali Tskhinvali ( ka, ცხინვალი ) or Tskhinval ( os, Цхинвал, Чъреба, Tskhinval, Chreba, ; rus, Цхинва́л(и), r=Tskhinvál(i), ) is the capital of the disputed ''de facto'' independent Republic of South Ossetia, in ...

. Per Georgian administrative division the village is in

Shida Kartli Shida Kartli ( ka, შიდა ქართლი, , ; "Inner Kartli") is a landlocked administrative region (''Mkhare'') in eastern Georgia. It comprises a central part of the historical-geographic province of Shida Kartli. With an area of , S ...

region. During the

2008 South Ossetia War The 2008 Russo-Georgian WarThe war is known by a variety of other names, including Five-Day War, August War and Russian invasion of Georgia. was a war between Georgia, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of Sou ...

, the village was completely destroyed by the Ossetian forces and depopulated of its majority Georgian population. After the war, the South Ossetian regime included the former Tamarasheni territory in Tskhinvali as a "Moscow Microdistrict" inaugurated by the

Mayor of Moscow The Mayor of Moscow (russian: Мэр Москвы, Mer Moskvy) is the head and the highest-ranking official of Moscow, who leads the Government of Moscow, the main executive body of the city. Moscow is both a city and separate federal sub ...

Yuri Luzhkov Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. * Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Ja ...

. The village is situated in the

Great Liakhvi River The Great Liakhvi ( ''Didi Liakhvi'', , ''Styr Lewakhi'') is a river in central Georgia, which rises on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in the de facto independent region of South Ossetia and flows into the Kura (Mtk ...

valley. Tradition holds it that the modern-day village was founded by the medieval queen

Tamar of Georgia Tamar the Great ( ka, თამარ მეფე, tr, lit. "King Tamar") ( 1160 – 18 January 1213) reigned as the Queen of Georgia from 1184 to 1213, presiding over the apex of the Georgian Golden Age. A member of the Bagrationi dyna ...

(1284-1212) as a small town. Hence, the settlement’s name, literally meaning "built by Tamar". It was formerly part of the late medieval Georgian princedom of

Samachablo Samachablo ( ka, სამაჩაბლო) is a Georgian historical district in Shida Kartli, Georgia, which lies entirely within the disputed South Ossetia Region. The name ''Samachablo'' (literally, "of Machabeli") derives from the Georgian ...

(literally, "the estate of the

Machabeli Machabeli ( sing. ka, მაჩაბელი; pl. მაჩაბლები, ''Machablebi'') was a Georgian princely house (''tavadi'') which held a large fiefdom (''satavado'') in the province of Inner Kartli (central Georgia) called Sa ...

amily) and then of the former

South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast The South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast (russian: Юго-Осетинская автономная область, ka, სამხრეთ ოსეთის ავტონომიური ოლქი, os, Хуссар Ирыстоны ав� ...

(abolished in 1990). Populated mostly by ethnic Georgians, the village lies within the ongoing Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone, and remained under the Government of Georgia’s control till the

. Tamarasheni is a home to the Museum of the 19th-century Georgian writer and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

translator

Ivane Machabeli Prince Ivane Machabeli ( ka, ივანე მაჩაბელი) (January 28, 1854 – c. 1898) was a Georgian writer, translator, publicist, public figure, active member of the National-Liberation Movement, and a founder of the new Georgia ...

who was born there in 1854. The museum was severely damaged, on July 23, 1997, in a blast allegedly organized by local Ossetian separatists. Most of the village's houses were destroyed during the

by Ossetian militias.

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

Georgia: Satellite Images Show Destruction, Ethnic Attacks
29.08.08

References

{{reflist Populated places in Gori Municipality

See also

References