Narikala Fortress

About this place

An ancient fortress crowning a steep hill above Tbilisi's Old Town and the Mtkvari river, between the sulphur-bath district and the botanical garden, made up of two walled sections. It is the city's most famous viewpoint, looking over old rooftops, churches, bridges and the river, and its lit walls seem to hang above the city at night. Tradition credits King Vakhtang Gorgasali, Tbilisi's founder, with building it, but the earliest record is of a fortress built here in the fourth century AD. The Umayyads expanded it in the seventh century, and later King David the Builder; the Mongols called it «Narin Qala», the little fortress. Most of the surviving walls date from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and an earthquake damaged it in 1827. In its lower court stands the Church of St Nicholas, rebuilt in 1996 and 1997 in place of a thirteenth-century church destroyed by fire, its interior painted with scenes from the Bible and Georgian history. Along the same ridge stands «Kartlis Deda», the Mother of Georgia, a twenty-metre aluminium woman in national dress holding a bowl of wine for friends in her left hand and a sword for enemies in her right. Entry is free. You can walk up from the Old Town in about a quarter of an hour, or ride the cable car across the river from Rike Park, about 2.5 GEL a ride per visitor guides, paid with the MetroMoney transport card. The ground is stony and uneven, so wear comfortable shoes; the hour before sunset is the best time.