World Heritage Identification Number: 709
World Heritage since: 1996
Category: Cultural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇬🇪 Georgia
Continent: Asia
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
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Upper Svaneti: A Medieval Mountain Landscape in the Caucasus
Upper Svaneti, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, is a captivating region nestled within the rugged landscapes of the Greater Caucasus Mountains in northwestern Georgia. This remote and isolated highland area offers a unique blend of breathtaking natural beauty, rich cultural heritage, and architectural ingenuity that transports visitors back to medieval times.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
Preserved by its long isolation, the Upper Svaneti region of the Caucasus is an exceptional example of mountain scenery with medieval-type villages and tower-houses. The village of Chazhashi still has more than 200 of these very unusual houses, which were used both as dwellings and as defence posts against the invaders who plagued the region.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
The Committee decided to inscribe the nominated property on the basis of cultural criteria (iv) and (v), considering that the region of Upper Svaneti is of outstanding universal value being an exceptional landscape that has preserved to a remarkable degree its original medieval appearance, notable for the distribution, form, and architecture of its human settlements.
Encyclopedia Record: Svaneti
Svaneti is a province in the northwestern part of Georgia. Running along the Greater Caucasus range, Svaneti is one of the most mountainous regions of Georgia. It is largely inhabited by the Svans, an ethnic subgroup of Georgians.Additional Site Details
Area: 1.06 hectares
(v) — Outstanding example of traditional human settlement
Coordinates: 42.914 , 43.009
Image
© Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
