Walled City of Artanuji (Region of Klarjeti)
The city-fortress of Artanuji (Georg. არტანუჯის ციხე–ქალაქი, Tur. Ardanuç) is located in the historical region of Georgia – Klarjeti (Georg. კლარჯეთი). The ancient city, as a settlement, already existed in the pre-Christian era and played an important role in the political life of the historical region of Klarjeti. Artanuji was located on a large trade route and connected Transcaucasia with Byzantium and with the countries of the Black Sea coast. The fortress was built on the left bank of the Artanujiskali River (Georg. არტანუჯისწყალი), in the second half of the 5th century, by order of the Georgian king Vakhtang Gorgasali (Georg. ვახტანგ გორგასალი). Below the castle, on the territory of one of the districts of the modern Turkish city – Ardanuç, the remains of an ancient Georgian city are still preserved, where you can find the ruins of churches, old trading shops and fragments of the lower protective fence.
The fortress of Artanuji is built on a rock with almost vertical slopes. It occupies the entire upper part of the rock, which has an elongated shape from south to north. The walls of the castle follow the contours of the area and therefore have a length of about 220 meters. Today, a significant part of the fortress walls, the remains of the castle church and the palace have been preserved. The sheer cliff gave such a reliable protection that they did not consider it necessary to include towers in the walls. Natural caves, which were connected to the castle by tunnels, played an important role in the defensive system of the castle. There was a secret tunnel on the territory of the castle, which descended to the ArtanujisTskali River and during a long siege provided water supply to the castle.
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