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Tmogwi Fortress
Vladimir Garnikyan • Drawings and illustrations, 25.06.2019, 21×29 cm
Description of the artwork «Tmogwi Fortress»
Tmogvi - (Georgian თმოგვის ციხე) also Tmkaberd (Armenian Թմբկաբերդ) or (Armenian Թմուկ), Tmuk / Tmok - a large, although poorly preserved fortress of the beginning of the X century. a couple of kilometers from the cave city of Vardzia, from which you can get here along a hiking trail. The climb to Tmogwi is quite tiring, but it is more than compensated by the beautiful views from the cliff, literally hanging over Kura.
Settlements of people in this area appeared long before the construction of the fortress. The age of mounds and caves discovered near the fortress is 4-5 thousand years. Tmogvi was located almost in the center of then Georgia. A road from the Tao-Klarjet principality (now the territory of modern Turkey) to Kartli passed along the Kura gorge. At that time, it was a trade route connecting South Georgia with Forward Asia. Where the coast became impassable, the path rose into the mountains. In this place a fortress was built. Fortress towers and walls of the fortress are located on three hills with a length of up to 300m and have a thickness of up to 3m.
In the X century, the Arab conquerors tried to take the fortress, but to no avail.
In the XI century, a city appears around the fortress.
In 1011, the castle died in captivity Sumbat III, the last king of Tao-Klardzheti.
Since 1073, the fortress was in the possession of the princes Kuabulidze, in subsequent centuries the fortress belonged to the famous princely names of Toreli, Mkhargrdzeli-Zakaryana, Shalikashvili and Dzhakeli.
In 1191, near Tmogvi, the army of Tsarina Tamara defeated the large army of her first husband, George of Russia, the son of St. Martyr Andrei Bogolyubsky. George, whom Tamara banished in 1187 for drunkenness and other vices, settled in Constantinople. Tamara, for the second time, married the Ossetian Tsarevich David, in which she found a smart like-minded person, a fearless military leader and a caring father of two children - son George and daughter Rusudan. Upon learning of the marriage of St. Tamara, the Russian prince decided to fight for the lost throne. He left Constantinople and appeared in the country of Ezincan, where he was joined by numerous traitors. Gathering a large army, they went to war on Tamara, but were defeated in a night battle. The saint showed mercy and did not execute any of the traitors, even releasing her ex-husband. After this, the former and pardoned spouse tried twice more to regain the Georgian throne, but each time was defeated by the vassals devoted to Tamara.
In 1578, the Ottoman Empire captured the fortress. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829, the fortress again moved to Georgia. Having lost its strategic importance, the fortress gradually began to collapse and became desolate.
Sargis Tmogveli, a famous medieval Georgian writer, scientist and philosopher of the 12th-13th centuries, comes from these places.
In 1346, Grigor Tatevatsi, an Armenian scientist, was born in the Tmogvi fortress.
In 1902, the Armenian writer Hovhannes Tumanyan dedicated the fortress to the poem “Taking the Tmuk Fortress”. After some time, the Russian poetess Sophia Parnock wrote the libretto “The Take of Tmkaberd”. Based on the poem in 1928, A. A. Spendiarov wrote the opera Almast.
Settlements of people in this area appeared long before the construction of the fortress. The age of mounds and caves discovered near the fortress is 4-5 thousand years. Tmogvi was located almost in the center of then Georgia. A road from the Tao-Klarjet principality (now the territory of modern Turkey) to Kartli passed along the Kura gorge. At that time, it was a trade route connecting South Georgia with Forward Asia. Where the coast became impassable, the path rose into the mountains. In this place a fortress was built. Fortress towers and walls of the fortress are located on three hills with a length of up to 300m and have a thickness of up to 3m.
In the X century, the Arab conquerors tried to take the fortress, but to no avail.
In the XI century, a city appears around the fortress.
In 1011, the castle died in captivity Sumbat III, the last king of Tao-Klardzheti.
Since 1073, the fortress was in the possession of the princes Kuabulidze, in subsequent centuries the fortress belonged to the famous princely names of Toreli, Mkhargrdzeli-Zakaryana, Shalikashvili and Dzhakeli.
In 1191, near Tmogvi, the army of Tsarina Tamara defeated the large army of her first husband, George of Russia, the son of St. Martyr Andrei Bogolyubsky. George, whom Tamara banished in 1187 for drunkenness and other vices, settled in Constantinople. Tamara, for the second time, married the Ossetian Tsarevich David, in which she found a smart like-minded person, a fearless military leader and a caring father of two children - son George and daughter Rusudan. Upon learning of the marriage of St. Tamara, the Russian prince decided to fight for the lost throne. He left Constantinople and appeared in the country of Ezincan, where he was joined by numerous traitors. Gathering a large army, they went to war on Tamara, but were defeated in a night battle. The saint showed mercy and did not execute any of the traitors, even releasing her ex-husband. After this, the former and pardoned spouse tried twice more to regain the Georgian throne, but each time was defeated by the vassals devoted to Tamara.
In 1578, the Ottoman Empire captured the fortress. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829, the fortress again moved to Georgia. Having lost its strategic importance, the fortress gradually began to collapse and became desolate.
Sargis Tmogveli, a famous medieval Georgian writer, scientist and philosopher of the 12th-13th centuries, comes from these places.
In 1346, Grigor Tatevatsi, an Armenian scientist, was born in the Tmogvi fortress.
In 1902, the Armenian writer Hovhannes Tumanyan dedicated the fortress to the poem “Taking the Tmuk Fortress”. After some time, the Russian poetess Sophia Parnock wrote the libretto “The Take of Tmkaberd”. Based on the poem in 1928, A. A. Spendiarov wrote the opera Almast.
