Vardzia cave monastery,Georgia

The Cave City of Vardzia,Has not been shown before on Ats this is a remarkable place it off the beaten path of world tourism..It was left abandoned until the 20th century, when a small group of monks returned to the monastery. To this day, the site serves as both a monastery and a museum.


The Cave City of Vardzia is a cave monastery dug into the side of the Erusheli mountain in southern Georgia near Aspindza on the left bank of the Mtkvari River. It was founded by Queen Tamar in 1185.
The monastery was constructed as protection from the Mongols. and consisted of over six thousand apartments in a thirteen story complex. The city included a church, a throne room, and a complex irrigation system watering terraced farmlands. n the modern days Vardzia is a major tourist attraction in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia. The place is maintained by a small group of monks and can be visited for a small fee.

This is a remarkable place lets not let it get lost in the threads.. peace,sugarcookie1

Thanks for posting this Sugarcookie. I never had heard of this place, very interesting. There is a site similar to this in I think Turkey.
Funny how humans like to live inside rocks for protection.

I really enjoy threads like this.

Very cool..SC

I had never heard of these caves before...

thanks for the thread, always fun to learn new things..

Originally posted by lonegurkha
Thanks for posting this Sugarcookie. I never had heard of this place, very interesting. There is a site similar to this in I think Turkey.
Funny how humans like to live inside rocks for protection.

I really enjoy threads like this.

edit on 1/29/2012 by lonegurkha because: (no reason given)

I think there is allot of places around the world were people built there homes in caves it would be a great place to live and have protection ..Thanks for posting lonegurkha..peace,sugarcookie1

Originally posted by baddmove
Very cool..SC

I had never heard of these caves before...

thanks for the thread, always fun to learn new things..

I didn't know it existed until today myself i was surfing the net and came across the video and thought i should share this with ATS ..I think there is allot of places out there we don't know about that are off the beaten path so there not talked allot about..thank you for posting,peace,sugarcookie1

Wow, that was a nice mini-vacation without leaving my seat. Wish it were my home. Thanks.

Originally posted by The GUT
Wow, that was a nice mini-vacation without leaving my seat. Wish it were my home. Thanks.

Hello The GUT I bet it would be a neat place to live a great view nice and quiet it would be a nice place to get back to your spiritual site..peace,sugarcookie

reply to post by sugarcookie1


Wow! Awesome!! Do you know what sect of monks are there? Are they open to new residents? Women?

I've been for some time thinking that when the capitalist abomination of this Earth implodes on itself, I may very well hoist my carcass to the nearest monastery/convent (would prefer a Tibetan one in the Himalayans, or anywhere other than the USA).....

I'll look more into ths. THANK YOU.
Flag and star.
here's a link to some more info:
www.kuriositas.com...

Originally posted by wildtimes
reply to post by sugarcookie1

 

Wow! Awesome!! Do you know what sect of monks are there? Are they open to new residents? Women?

I've been for some time thinking that when the capitalist abomination of this Earth implodes on itself, I may very well hoist my carcass to the nearest monastery/convent (would prefer a Tibetan one in the Himalayans, or anywhere other than the USA).....

I'll look more into ths. THANK YOU.
Flag and star.
here's a link to some more info:
www.kuriositas.com...

edit on 29-1-2012 by wildtimes because: add the link

Hi wildtimes..I dont know what sect of monks they are but IM sure its men only Going to a monastery/convent if things turn for the worse is probley a good idea most of them live off the land make there own food and wine the more i think about it that would be the place to go good idea! Thank you for the link that is a good one with some great pics ..thanks for posting peace,sugarcookie1

wildtimes,had a good idea with useing the caves if things went south there is caves all over the world!

reply to post by sugarcookie1


Yeah, but they don't all have nice archways and stairs.....or 6,000 apartments.
What a fantastic feat of engineering that place is!

Reminds me of the ancient North American people the Anasazi...

I've always been really drawn to mountainous areas...and stone houses...makes me wonder if at some other time, I was in some other place, and that's why they resonate with me so much.

Originally posted by wildtimes
reply to post by sugarcookie1

 

Yeah, but they don't all have nice archways and stairs.....or 6,000 apartments.
What a fantastic feat of engineering that place is!

Reminds me of the ancient North American people the Anasazi...

I've always been really drawn to mountainous areas...and stone houses...makes me wonder if at some other time, I was in some other place, and that's why they resonate with me so much.

Cave City of Vardzia is amazing and huge it housed alot of people ..Maybe you lived in a cave in some other lifetime i have that feeling about places in Egypt like ive been there before and lived in one of the palaces peace,sugarcookie1

Thanks for the tour cookie
It always amazes me how these early
cultures where able to excavate such
intricate tunneling with what I would
assume where hand tools. The even
conture and smoothness of the walls
I find most interesting since it was stated
that they were constructed in the late 1100's.
A very nice find. Thank you and keep them coming.

Originally posted by 43LEO729
Thanks for the tour cookie

It always amazes me how these early
cultures where able to excavate such
intricate tunneling with what I would
assume where hand tools. The even
conture and smoothness of the walls
I find most interesting since it was stated
that they were constructed in the late 1100's.
A very nice find. Thank you and keep them coming.

Thank for posting Leo..Its hard for me to wrap my mind around the tunnels all being dug by hand or with hand tools. It must have taken them a long time to dig it all out im glad i wasnt part of the digging crew peace,sugarcookie1

That place is out of this world! Added to my list of places I want, no, NEED to visit.

And I thought all they had in Georgia were rednecks and peaches.

Originally posted by ForbiddenHologram
That place is out of this world! Added to my list of places I want, no, NEED to visit.

And I thought all they had in Georgia were rednecks and peaches.

Im glad you enjoyed the thread peace,sugarcookie1

reply to post by ForbiddenHologram

And I thought all they had in Georgia were rednecks and peaches.

Wrong Georgia.
And you should be careful using the word 'rednecks', some people of southern ethnic culture who consider themselves 'rednecks' are the most chivalrous, honorable, down to earth people you will ever meet.
I love peaches, though.
I drove through Georgia twice. Both times, it was very very dark (as in, nighttime. No sun). That's all I know about visiting there