Historic site · Telavi, Telavi Municipality, Kakheti
Batonistsikhe
ბატონის ციხე · Batoni Castle · Batonis Tsikhe
The walled residence of the Kakhetian kings in Telavi, with a royal palace, court churches and a royal bath enclosed by a five-metre battlemented wall.
Where it is
41.9179, 45.4761
Why go
The complex went up in two stages. In the seventeenth century King Archil built the palace, the eastern gate and the bath; in the eighteenth, Erekle II added the court church, the western gate and the perimeter wall. From here the kings received foreign diplomats, and it served as the political centre of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti. A museum on site displays belongings of the royal family, coins and historical relics, and the seminary building and a secret tunnel belong to the same ensemble. It stands in Telavi itself, so it is easy to combine with the rest of the town.
Near Batonistsikhe
Monastery
Ikalto Monastery
A monastery in Ikalto, a short drive from Telavi, founded in the sixth century by Zenon, one of the Syrian fathers, and home to a medieval academy until Shah Abbas I's army burned it in 1616.
8 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Nekresi Monastery
A monastery complex among woods at about 480 metres on the northern slope of the Gombori Ridge near Shilda, with churches built between the fourth and the eighteenth centuries.
25 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Fortress
Bochorma Fortress
A mountain fortress in Tianeti municipality whose walls and towers follow the terrain around a tenth-century church of St George, once the key to controlling Kakheti.
27 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Archaeological site
Dolochopi Basilica
The excavated ruins of a fifth-century three-nave basilica on the north-western edge of Kvareli, beside the Duruji River, measuring about 36 by 18 metres.
28 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ