Rustavi Fortress: Ancient Settlement and Excavations

The fortress, which is located in Rustavi, is also called the Old Town or Fortress City. During archaeological excavations on the territory of Rustavi, in addition to the fortress, stone houses and household items were discovered, which led to the conclusion that there used to be an entire settlement here, which was surrounded by an impregnable fortress wall. The excavation site was included in the country's cultural heritage list and today it is protected at the federal level.

The fortress is located in the picturesque broad-leaved Rustavi Park, it fits seamlessly into the natural landscape, and its position on a hill allows you to see the most beautiful places of Georgia in the palm of your hand.

The Rustavi Fortress is part of a defensive complex around the border of Tbilisi. Scientists have identified three stages of the rebirth and development of the fortress and its walls. The very first building dates back to the 5th century AD, it consisted of several signal towers in the shape of a quadrangle, and places for military installations were equipped in the stone walls, in this form the fence stood until the 8th century. The second stage of the fortress was marked by the expansion of the structure, now it was complemented by semicircular turrets. To strengthen the entire defensive ensemble in the 9th - 11th centuries, the towers were combined into a solid fenced array, and already in the 12th - 13th, after almost 200 years, an external wall was added, behind which a tunnel passage was located for mobile castling of the military during the siege of the fortress, there is definitely something to see in Georgia for history lovers.

The sights of Georgia have a distinctive feature, often the walls of ancient buildings are decorated with national ornaments, mostly castles and churches. There are no frescoes or other decorative decorations anywhere in the defensive structures, except for the Rustavi Fortress. The fortress is an exception to the rules of both architectural construction, as it was built in several stages, and from a decorative point of view there is something to see here.

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For several centuries, the question of the original name of the fortress was not resolved, the reason for this was the multinational nature of the people who inhabited Georgia. In the 20th century, the fortress was called Rish-kala, and the city of Rustavi itself was called Rishad, which is an Armenian dialect. In 1920, there was a version that the castle itself belonged to the Arishian family and should have been called the Arish Fortress, this version is not supported by either historians or the Georgians themselves.

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