Archaeological site · Kaspi Municipality, Shida Kartli
Grakliani Hill
გრაკლიანი გორა
An excavated hill beside the highway between Igoeti and Samtavisi in Kaspi Municipality, where layers of ancient settlement were uncovered along with an inscription in a still-undeciphered script.
Where it is
41.9964, 44.4061
Why go
The hill came to light while a new highway was under construction, and digging has since exposed settlement remains reaching back at least to the second or first millennium BCE, with finds that include miniature qvevri and ancient jars. The best-known discovery is an altar carved with a script nobody has yet read. Visitors can look over part of the excavated settlement from pavilions built for the purpose, which makes this worthwhile for anyone curious about early Kartli, if less so for those hoping for standing buildings. Samtavisi Cathedral stands nearby, and the two combine easily on the Tbilisi–Gori road.
Base yourself nearby
city
Tbilisi
Georgia’s capital is a layered city of old balconies, sulfur baths, hillside neighborhoods, contemporary restaurants and centuries of history along the Mtkvari River.
Historic town
Mtskheta
Mtskheta was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Iberia and is the place where Georgia adopted Christianity in the fourth century. Today it is a small, walkable town twenty kilometres from Tbilisi holding Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, the hilltop church of Jvari, the working convent of Samtavro and the archaeological remains of the pre-Christian royal city, inscribed together on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is simultaneously Georgia's most important pilgrimage destination and its most accessible serious historical site.
Near Grakliani Hill
Church
Samtavisi Cathedral
An almost square domed cathedral built in 1030 by the architect Hilarion Samtavneli in Shida Kartli, known for the carved cross and blind arcade on its east façade.
1 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Fortress
Skhvilo Fortress
A cobblestone stronghold on a ridge near Kvemo Chala in Kaspi Municipality, overlooking the Lekhuri valley and Tiriponi field, with a five-storey tower whose only door is six metres off the ground.
5 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Archaeological site
Uplistsikhe Cave Town
A cave town hewn into a rocky massif on the left bank of the Mtkvari east of Gori, where halls, streets and a basilica were cut straight into the living rock.
17 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Fortress
Ksani Fortress
A partly ruined fortress of the Mukhrani princes on Mount Sarkineti near Tsikhisdziri, commanding the meeting of the Ksani and Mtkvari rivers, with walls and towers largely from its 1746 rebuilding.
20 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ