Vardzia restoration gives new life to Georgia's ancient cave city
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Vardzia - a 12th Century cave city in southern Georgia is a historic monument that is being preserved through a Government-funded restoration project.
Hundreds of thousands has been spend on restoration work to preserve and restore several historical sites in Georgia, including the Vardzia complex.
The main goal of the restoration works was to give new life to the ancient monument and restore its damaged sections while maintaining its original style and appearance.
Major rehabilitation work has already been carried out at the historic cave city to restore the ancient site and prevent it from further damage.
Restoration work of the Vardzia cave complex begun last year by the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation and the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection.
The country’s scientific and international institutes have united to work on the project, which is being led by UNESCO expert Dr. Claudio Margotini, who has a PhD in cultural heritage of engineering and geological sciences. He is also the Vice President of the landslide international consortium.
Vardzia is a cave monastery complex that dated back to the 12th-13th Centuries. It is located in the valley of the Kura River, situated about 70km south of Borjomi. Experts said this was an outstanding monument showcasing medieval Georgian architecture.
At the cave complex, hundreds of rooms and passages connecting the caves were built inside the mountainside, which stretched 800m, up to 50m deep and eight stores high. Among the rooms were refectories, cells, storage areas and wine cellars.
Rehabilitation work at the historic site started last summer. As of today, the Georgian Government has spent more than 500,000 GEL on the restoration project.
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Georgia’s ancient cave city Vardzia is reaching the final phase of restoration to bring the historic monument back to life.
Rockfall in the vicinity of the Vardzia ancient cave city in Georgia’s south poses “no threat” to the monument, the Georgian national agency for cultural heritage preservation announced earlier on Tuesday.