Mutso Towers (Region of Khevsureti)
Mutso (Georg. მუცო)– formidable citadel of outer Khevsureti. Mutso, like Shatili, is also a fortress, but compared to its older brother, it is much more impressive. And in scale, and views, and steepness. A lot can be said about Mutso and the history goes back more than one century. It flourished during the reign of Queen Tamara, when Georgia was going through its Golden Age. Then the Mutso fortress played a huge role in the defense of Georgia. When the settlement was founded, history is not known, but it was the Middle Ages. Life in Mutso ended in the 19th century, for several reasons. And hard life, and the outbreak of the plague of the 1850s. Plague burial grounds are still preserved around the fortress. The fortress is located 12 km from Shatili, slightly to the east, in the Ardoti gorge.
A road passed through Mutso connecting Khevsureti and the neighboring region – Tusheti. It was also possible to get to Chechnya through the side gorges. So the importance of this fortress is defense from neighbors. Deep under the fortress, the mountain river Andaki rushes into the gorge, and Mutso itself is at an altitude of 1500-1600 meters. At first glance at Mutso, it seems that this village is trying to climb a mountain, very steep and inaccessible, it is even interesting how they could build so many towers in such a hard-to-reach place, and none of them collapsed during an earthquake or landslides, which are quite frequent occurrence. The houses and towers are made of flat slate without cement. The fortress consists of three parts, located at different heights, like steps. In the center of each part there is a battle tower, around which houses are closely pressed to each other.
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