Concept

Mtskheta

Summary
Mtskheta (tr ˈmtshχɛthɑ) is a city in the region of Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Georgia. It is one of the oldest cities in Georgia as well as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is located approximately north of Tbilisi, at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers. Currently a small provincial capital, for nearly a millennium until the 5th century AD, Mtskheta was a large fortified city, a significant economical and political centre of the Kingdom of Iberia. Due to the historical significance of the town and its several outstanding churches and cultural monuments, the "Historical Monuments of Mtskheta" became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. As the birthplace and one of the most vibrant centers of Christianity in Georgia, Mtskheta was declared as the "Holy City" by the Georgian Orthodox Church in 2014. In 2016 the Historical Monuments of Mtskheta were placed by UNESCO under Enhanced Protection, a mechanism established by the 1999 Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. Mtskheta is set on a lowland, surrounded by mountains, at the confluence of the two rivers, Mtkvari and Aragvi. The city is approached from the north by the Greater Caucasus and from the south by the Lesser Caucasus mountains. Archeological evidences trace human settlement in the area of Mtskheta from 2nd millennium BC to early 1st millennium AD. Numerous burials of the Bronze Age (beginning of the 1st millennium BC) prove that Mtskheta already was a significant settlement at that period. According to The Georgian Chronicles, Mtskheta was founded by Mtskhetos, the son of Kartlos, eponymous ancestor of the Georgians. The wall around the city was built by Nimrod's ancestor Ardam. By another version, more accepted by historians, Mtskheta was founded by the ancient Meschian tribes in the 5th century BC. Mtskheta was the capital of the early Georgian Kingdom of Iberia from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD.
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