Khornabuji Fortress

Khornabuji reads better from a distance than from close up, which was rather the point of it. The fortress occupies a steep free-standing rock a few kilometres from Dedoplistskaro, at the southern edge of the Alazani plain, and from the flat farmland it is visible for tens of kilometres.

Georgian sources name the site as one of the principal strongholds of Hereti, the historical province of the far east. The name appears from the 4th century, though most of the standing masonry is 10th to 12th century. Khornabuji controlled the route running south from the Alazani plain across the Iori plateau towards Shirvan — a trade corridor and an invasion corridor at the same time, which is why it changed hands so often.

Locally the castle is called Queen Tamar's, but there is no documented connection to her. It is one of dozens of Georgian fortresses that have acquired the name over the centuries, and the guides who repeat it are passing on folklore rather than history.

The ruins sit on two levels: lower walls with tower stubs, and an upper citadel holding a rock-cut water cistern and the footings of a small church. The stone is local, yellow-grey, and merges into the crag so completely that it is not always clear where the rock stops and the building starts.

The reason to climb is the view. North lies the whole Alazani plain with the Caucasus wall behind it; south the ground turns to semi-desert running towards Vashlovani. Two entirely different countries, visible from one rock, and the border between them is more or less the line of this ridge.

The climb is short, but it is the whole visit. There is no museum, no interpretation panel and no restoration; everything the site offers is either masonry or horizon, and half of it is horizon.