Gori Fortress

About this place

Gori Fortress is a medieval citadel on a rocky hill above the city of Gori in central Georgia. Its walls follow the shape of the hill, giving it an irregular, tilted look. It is open with a wide view over the city and mountains, and travellers between Tbilisi and western Georgia stop for a short walk. It appears in records from the 13th century, though archaeology shows the site was fortified in the final centuries BC. The Ottomans took it in the 16th century, and King Simon I besieged it for nine months from 1598. It changed hands between Georgians and Persians in the 17th century and took its present form under Rostom in the 1630s and Erekle II in 1774. You climb stone steps through a pointed gateway, then walk across a grassy plateau surrounded by walls of rounded river stone with small battlements. Openings look over the city, the plain and the distant Caucasus. The grass turns very green in spring, the stone looks warm in the evening light, and a Georgian flag may fly above the wall. It stands in central Gori, about 66 km in a straight line from Tbilisi, and you can walk up from the main square. We found no fee, and an hour is enough. Take care at the edges, as there are not barriers everywhere. The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to nearby South Ossetia, so stay away from the administrative line and check official guidance.