02:34, 13 May 2003

Ananuri

Settlement in Georgia, on a right coast of the river Aragvi, on the Military - Georgian road, to 64 kms from Tbilisi. In the past - a residence of Eristavi princes of Aragvi. In Ananuri there was a castle fortress of the Late feudal period (XVI-XVII centuries), which protected the entrance into the Aragvi gorge. Untill nowadays were kept: stone fortifications with the main quadrangular tower and round towers; two dome temples: a big one - midzinebah (1689; facades reveted with cut stone with ornaments, fragments of a fresco list were kept inside) and a small one - gvtaebah (1st part of XVII centuries ; list, lapidary inscriptions); a tower with a pyramidal roof, a belfry and some other structures.