Tour to natural monuments, #3

Trip from Tbilisi to Lagodekhi national park – 

Excursion to natural and historical monuments

Lagodekhi Protected Areas

Trip from Tbilisi to Lagodekhi national park includes visiting and familiarizing nature and historical monuments in the protected areas of Lagodekhi. These are: waterfalls, lake, castle; Flora and fauna.
Trip from Tbilisi to Lagodekhi national park in the protected area of Lagodekhi can last 2 days.

The trip gives an opportunity to pass and examine several plant localities into the reservation, which occupies the southern slops of the Main Caucasian Range.
The great part of it is covered with mountains of broadleaved forests formed of: Quercus iberica, Fagus orientalis, Carpinus caucasica, Quercus macranthera, Acer trautvettere, Betula litvinovii. High mountain evergreen shrubbery with Rhododendron caucasicum, Rh.luteum.
In Lagodekhi National Park reservation grow the following local endemic species: Paeonia mlokosewitschi, P. lagodechiana, Primula guliae, Gentiana lagodechiana, Galanthus lagodechianus, Galanthus ketzhovelii etc.
In this region you may see many animals: deer (Cervus elaphus), bear (Ursus artos), aurochs (Capra cilindricornis), chamois(Rupiapra rupicapra), roe (Capreolus capreolus) etc. You may see their natural habitats.

Trip to David gareja

During this trip you will be able to see one of the largest monastery complexes of Georgia – David gareja (VI-XIV cc).
Among the architectural relicts of material and spiritual culture of medieval Georgia, this monastery occupies a particular place for its historical and artistic values. Davidgareji monastery complex is situated in Gare Kakheti (outward Kakheti), in the half-desert and steppe zones. It impresses visitors with the high artistic skills of frescoes and architecture.
There is a large number of rare endemic and relict plant species such as: Salvia garedjii, Teucrium nuchense, Nepeta schischkinii, Stachys fruticulosa, Centaurea carthaliniae, Acantholimon forminii, Onobrychus kakhetika, Dianthus subulosus, Salsola nodulosa, Iris cartaliniae, IIberica, Gagea commutata, Bellevalia wilhelmsii etc.
During the excursion over Alazani Canyon you will visit Sighnaghi stronghold fence (XV-XVIIIcc) and other monastery buildings. Here is the center of archaeological discoveries.
There grows calcareous (Kogotis-chevi) plants such as: Campanula kachetica (local-endemic) and Thuya orientalis.

History of Tbilisi

City was founded by Vakhtang Gorgasali in the 4th century. The city is located in Eastern Georgia. The oldest architectural monument in Tbilisi is the 6th century Christian church Anchiskhati. Christianity was spread in Georgia in 4th-5th centuries. Since the foundation of Tbilisi, there are ancient shrines of Hebrew, Islamic and Catholic confessions.

Battles for Tbilisi

Until the 19th century, Tbilisi was conquered many times. This is the obvious illustration of conquests chronology: As a result of the conquest of the 4th and 6th centuries the city was occupied by the Persians; In the beginning of the 7th century Byzantines and Khazars with united powers had an attempt to conquer Tbilisi. In the first half of the 8th century The Arabs occupied Tbilisi, but in the second half of the 8th century Khazars raided the city. At the beginning of the second half of the 9th century, The Arabs occupied the city with many battles. In the middle of the 11th century, by the first time the Elders Council took over the city authorities. By the end of the 60s of the 11th century the Turk-Seljuks took over Tbilisi;

12th century

At the beginning of the 12th century Tbilisi was liberated by King David IV Builder and from that time Tbilisi is a capital city of Georgia (before that Mtskheta was a capital of Georgia), as a result in the 12th and the 13th centuries the population of Tbilisi exceeded 70 000 inhabitants. In the 20s of the 13th century, the Kvarezians took over Tbilisi. Within a few years Tbilisi was occupied by the Mongols;

14th century

In the first quarter of the 14th century Tbilisi was exempted from the invaders. By the end of the 14th century Amir Timur took over Tbilisi (who has battled 8 times in Georgia); In the 15th century the Persians took over and occupied Tbilisi 2 times.

Division of the state into principalities

At the end of the 15th century Georgia was divided into principalities and Tbilisi Became the capital of Kartli. In the first quarter of the 16th century Tbilisi was again taken by the Persians and King David X soon exempted it; At the end of the first half of the 16th century Tbilisi was once again taken by the Persians; From 1578 year Tbilisi was occupied by Ottomans;

18th century

In the 18th century, because of these battles the number of inhabitants of the city decresead by 20 000 and within a weak economic conditions at the beginning of the 18th century the first printing house was founded in Tbilisi. In the first quarter of the 18th century Ottomans conquered Tbilisi, within 10 years Persians occupied the city; In 1748 King Erekle II liberated Tbilisi. Since then the development of the industries began in the city but the trace of it faded away quickly because of the occupation of the city by Persian Shah – Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar in 1795. These conquests made it impossible for Georgia to develop economically. In 1801 Georgia was merged by Russia.

Fight for State Independence

Since 1802, fighting for restoration of state independence of Georgia has begun, which was achieved only in 1918 year. Georgia has restored state independence, but it soon was lost in 1921 year. After a great standoff, Georgia was able to re-establish the statehood in 1991 and the avant-garde of this 2-century battles and struggles was permanently Tbilisi.