Akhaltsikhe

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}}Template:Main other Akhaltsikhe (Template:Lang-ka {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), formerly known as Lomsia (Template:Lang-ka {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region (Template:Transliteration) of Samtskhe–Javakheti. It is the administrative center of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality and the Samtskhe–Javakheti region. It is situated on both banks of the small river Potskhovi (a left tributary of the Kura), which divides the city between the old city in the north and new in the south.

The 9th-century Akhaltsikhe (Rabati) Castle, which was recently restored, is located in the old part of the city. It is one of the main attractions of the Samtskhe–Javakheti region, along with Vardzia, Vale, Okrostsikhe and Zarzma.

Toponymy

Akhaltsikhe is the Georgian name of the town, which literally means "new fortress". It is attested in Arabic sources as Template:Transliteration (and Template:Transliteration), in Persian as Template:Transliteration (also spelled as Template:Transliteration), and in Turkish sources as Template:Transliteration.<ref name="EI2">Template:EI2</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> The Azerbaijani village of Axısxa is also named after it, due to the population of the village originating from Akhaltsikhe.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

History

File:Akhaltsikhe (19th century).jpg

Akhaltsikhe c. 1887

The town is mentioned among the settlements conquered by general Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri during the reign of Umayyad Caliph Mu'awiya I (661–680). During the Mongol domination of Georgia, local rulers of the House of Jaqeli, who ruled the feudal principality of Samtskhe-Saatabago, were invested with the title of atabeg and were allowed to be autonomous. In contemporaneous Persian and Turkish sources, these Jaqeli rulers were referred to as Ḳurḳūra, which derives from Template:Transliteration—the name of several Jaqeli rulers.<ref name="EI2"/>

In 1579, during the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1578–1590, the Ottomans took the town. In the ensuing period, the Ottomans implanted Islam and Ottoman customs. In 1625, the town became the centre of the Akhalzik Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire known as Template:Transliteration and it held a resident Ottoman pasha. The town rose to strategic importance and became a leading hub of the Caucasian slave market.<ref name="EI2"/> By the late 17th century, the town was home to 400 households, consisting of a mixed population of Turks, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks and Jews.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1828, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, Russian troops under the command of General Ivan Paskevich captured the city and, as a consequence of the 1829 Treaty of Adrianople, it was ceded to the Russian Empire. The city initially become part of the Kutaisi Governorate, then of the Tiflis Governorate, becoming the administrative centre of the Akhaltsikhe uezd.<ref name="EI2"/>

In the late 1980s the city was host to the Soviet Army's 10th Guards Motor Rifle Division, which became a brigade of the Georgian land forces after the fall of the Soviet Union.Template:Citation needed

Population

Template:Big<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Year	Georgians		Armenians		Russians		Jews		Others		Total
1886	2,733	17%	10,417	64.6%	146	0.9%	2,545	15.8%	275	1.7%	16,116
1897<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	3,578	23.3%	9,035	58.8%	1,172	7.3%	438	2.9%	1,134	3.4%	15,357
1916<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	2,783	10.9%	18,165	71.3%	716	2.8%	3,246	12.7%	560	2.2%	25,470
1926<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	1,817	14.8%	6,516	52.9%	1,425	11.6%	94	0.8%	2,458	20.0%	12,310
1959<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	6,801	25.7%	14,341	54.1%	3,509	13.2%	368	1.4%	1,478	5.6%	26,497
1979<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	5,714	29.2%	10,278	52.5%	2,208	11.3%	337	1.7%	1,050	5.4%	19,587
1989											24,570
2014<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	12,838	71.7%	4,781	26.7%	75	0.4%	11	0.06%	198	1.1%	17,903
2023<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>											16,943

Climate

File:Cityscape of Akhaltsikhe 02.jpg

View of Akhaltsikhe

Archaeology

File:Akhaltsikhe P1010757 (11464720006).jpg

Streets of Akhaltsikhe

The highland environment between Akhaltsikhe and Aspindza presents a varied and complex array of archaeological features in different locations, elevations and topographies. This includes the alluvial flood-plain of the Kura River, all the way to the high grasslands.Template:Citation needed

Human habitation is attested already in the Early Bronze Age (4th millennium BC) and later. Artifacts from the Roman and medieval periods are also strongly represented in the area.Template:Citation needed

Amiranis Gora

The important archaeological site of Amiranis Gora is located on the northeastern outskirts of Akhaltsikhe.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It was excavated by Tariel Chubinishvili.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The earliest carbon date for Amiranis Gora is 3790-3373 cal BC. It was obtained from the charcoal of the metallurgical workshop which belonged to the earliest building horizon of Amiranis Gora<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This indicates a division of metallurgical production into extractive and processing branches.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

Amiranis Gora is an important reference point for the study of the Early Bronze Age Kura–Araxes culture, also known as the Early Transcaucasian Culture. The many references include the architecture, burial practices, material culture and metallurgy.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Amiranis Gora is one of the best sites with fixed stratigraphy of the Kura-Araxes culture. The carbon date for the Kura-Araxes material at Amiranis Gora is 3630-3048 cal B.C., which is very early.<ref name=":0" />

People associated with Akhaltsikhe

• Gregorio Pietro Agagianian (1895–1971), Patriarch of Cilicia and the Armenian Catholic Church, Cardinal, and first Eastern Catholic papabile since Cardinal Bessarion during the Renaissance
• Charles Aznavour, world-famous French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent (father, Michael Aznavourian, was born in Akhaltsikhe)
• David Baazov, rabbi at Akhaltsikhe (1918)
• Shio Batmanishvili, hieromonk of the Servites of the Immaculate Conception, first Exarch of the Georgian Greek Catholic Church, and survivor of Solovki prison camp. Martyred by the NKVD during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge and buried in the mass grave at Sandarmokh in the Republic of Karelia.
• Hovhannes Kajaznuni (1868–1938), first prime minister of the First Republic of Armenia
• Ahmed-Pasha Khimshiashvili (?–1836), Pasha of Ahiska
• Sergo Kobuladze (1909–1978), painter and illustrator
• Hakob Kojoyan (1883–1959), Soviet Armenian artist
• Shalva Maglakelidze, plenipotentiary for the Russian Provisional Government and then for the government of Georgia in Akhaltsikhe (1917–1918)
• Stepan Malkhasyants, Armenian academician
• Hakob Manandian, Armenian historian
• Palavandishvili family
• Giorgi Mazniashvili, governor general of Akhaltsikhe (1919–1920)
• Natela Svanidze, Georgian composer
• Michel Tamarati (1858–1911), Georgian Catholic priest and historian
• Vakhtang Tchutchunashvili (?–1668), usurper of the throne of Imereti, fled to Ahiska after being deposed
• Vakhtang V, King of Kartli, fled to Ahiska after a failed coup
• Lusine Zakaryan (1937–1991), Soviet Armenian soprano singer

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Akhaltsikhe is twinned with:

• Template:Flagicon Ardahan, Turkey<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Notable People

• Artur Grigoryan, Russian-Armenian former football player
• Aida Babajanyan, Armenian-Georgian actress and dancer
• Hovhannes Kajaznuni, Armenian politician, First Prime Minister of Armenia
• Karp Khachvankyan, Armenian actor and director, People's Artist of Armenia (1967)

See also

• Battle of Akhaltsikhe
• Samtskhe–Javakheti