The cave monastery complex Vardzia – Castle roses

Castle roses – so unusual poetic name was given to the Georgian cave complex, which is the oldest in the country monastery, dating from the ninth century. Also in the complex it is located one of the most famous in the country of fortifications – fortress tower, decorated with unique paintings at the time.

 

If you want yourself to enjoy all this, it is necessary to go to the small village of Vardzia located in the valley of the Kura River. You can get here by car, covered the distance in seven tens of kilometers. Today the complex is a museum under the open sky, as well as important social and cultural entity.

 

The history of the cave complex

 

The architects of that era were planning to build all of this only one purpose – to protect the village from Iranian attacks. Total Fortress acquired a few years, a number of additional buildings, transformed into a small country. Today it operates a secular and religious educational institution, a cultural center and so on.

 

The cave complex, which includes 19 levels, stretching almost eight hundred meters along the mountains. The depth of occurrence of construction comes up to fifty meters. Historical research helped establish that get inside could use one of the many secret passages. Unfortunately, up to now remained only three of them. There is considerable evidence that the course used for the effective reflection attacks.

 

Next to the secret passages are arranged and various civil construction. For example, houses, include from one to four rooms, numerous vertical tunnels, pharmacies, retail shops and so on. The central part of the cave complex, the entrance to which is now made ​​paid, is the temple of the Assumption. Most of its surface is decorated with all sorts of frescoes, which could almost completely restore the group of restorers.

 

Every year, this complex is visited not only by historians and culture, but also many tourists who want to touch the ancient history. A small restaurant, and the toilet was built for guests in the complex.