Categories: News

Hidden Khachkars Near the Tmbkaberd Fortress, Georgia

Tmbkaberd was a Medieval Armenian fortress in Gugark province of the Greater Armenia. Now it is located in Georgia, on the left shore of the Kura river (Turkish: Kura, Armenian: Կուր, Kur).

Under the rule of prince Tatul, who has been famous for his bravery and incorruptibility, it has been one of the most powerful fortresses of Armenia.

The fortress is situated on three hills, surrounded by a 150-meters-long wall. Several towers can be seen on the top of each hill. Near the fortress is the village of Tmbuk, at the cemetery of which there are numerous khackars and graves with tombstones with Armenian inscription on them.

Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan wrote the poem The Capture of Tmbkaberd (1902).

There are many khachkars in the canyon not far from the fortress, but it seems like they have been thrown away by someone. Was that done in an effort to hide traces of past Armenian presence?

If so, then people who have done it are in no way different from the government of Azerbaijan, which simply destroys every Armenian monument on its territory. At least, the monuments in Georgia are not wiped out as those in Azerbaijan.

Read Also: Tmkaberd – One Of The Wonders Of Javakhk

Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

Hannibal and Artaxias the Great: The Carthaginian General Who Helped Build the “Armenian Carthage”

Few episodes in ancient Armenian history capture the imagination quite like the tradition that Hannibal…

6 days ago

The Priestess of the Kingdom of Van: A 9th-Century BC Bronze Figurine in the British Museum

Five angles of one small bronze figure — and what emerges is not an abstract…

2 weeks ago

The Winged Sun and the Armenian Tiara: Royal Symbolism of the Orontid (Yervanduni) Kingdom of Commagene, 163 BC – 72 AD

Introduction Among the successor states that emerged from the fragmentation of the Achaemenid-derived Orontid (Armenian:…

2 weeks ago

A Bronze Age Vessel from Gardman: Solar Symbolism, the Sun-Cross, and the Sacred Landscape of Ancient Armenia

Article based on the explanations and interpretive observations of Angela Terian, with additional archaeological and…

2 weeks ago

Rewriting the Caucasus: A Documented Look at Azerbaijan’s Historical Revisionism Regarding Armenia

Lenin: Soviet nationalities policy, Azerbaijan SSR founded 1920, Stalin: Constitution and census fix the ethnonym…

3 weeks ago

A Painted Wall from Ancient Armenia: The New Erebuni Fresco and the Urartian-Armenian Continuity

An unprecedented find on Arin Berd hill On 23 July 2026, the French Embassy in…

3 weeks ago