Adjara (Achara) is a region of Georgia that has rich history and diverse terrain patterns. Local archeological findings suggest that the region has been populated since the Stone Age. Starting from the Neolithic Age, the basin of the Chorokhi River has represented a big center of first bronze and then iron production. Adjara was part of one of early statehood units on the territory of Georgia that was called ‘Colkha’ (Colchis), and was well known to the antic world that had active links with Colchis as confirmed by the famous myth about Argonauts. Colchis was known as the motherland of King Aeëtes and his daughter Medea and the country of the legendary Golden Fleece.
In addition to the legendary Colchis, kingdoms of Egrisi and Kartli (Iberia) were established on the territory of today’s Georgia in the 6th-4th centuries BC. The kingdom of Kartli with the capital in Mtskheta gained particular strength in the 4th-3rd centuries BC. Jews exiled by Nebuchadnezzar from Israel settled there in the 6th century BC and have been peacefully living in Georgia for 26 centuries ever since.
According to some historical records, Parnavaz I, King of Kartli, invented the old Georgian alphabet, the ‘Asomtavruli’, in the 3rd century BC. Yet the oldest example of the Georgian script is found on the facade of the Sioni Christian Church in Bolnisi, dated to the 6th century AD.
Christianity first appeared in Georgia in the 1st-2nd centuries AD and became the state religion in 337 during the reign of King Mirian. Christianity is related to Apostles St. Andrew the First-Called and Matthias the Evangelist, historians believe that Apostle Matthias who was chosen to the college of Apostles after the death of Judas is buried in one of the oldest fortresses in Adjara, in Gonio-Apsarosi.
Construction of churches and monasteries shaped the unique national architectural style of the Georgian Christian sanctuaries – the so-called cruciform churches with domed roofs. The traditions of reading and writing as well as literacy were presumably advanced by the conversion to Christianity. The Old and New Testaments, hagiographies and theological literature were translated into the Georgian language, promoting creation of original spiritual texts, Georgian hagiography and hymnography.
As part of the Kingdom of Kartli, Adjara is first mentioned in the Georgian records after the 3rd century. The record was made by Leonti Mroveli, a 9th century author who described political and administrative structure of the kingdom under King Parnavaz mentioning that the King ‘sent [him] as eristavi of Odzrkhi (governor of Odzrkhi) and gave him the area from Tashiskari to Arsiani, from the beginning of Noste to the sea that does not belong to either Samtskhe or Adjara’.
During the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar (11th-12th centuries AD), Georgia advanced both culturally and economically. The epoch is known as early renaissance and is marked by works of famous philosophers Ioane Petritsi and Arsen Ikaltoeli, and Shota Rustaveli’s great poem ‘The Knight in the Panther’s Skin’(‘Vepkhvistkaosani’). Reign of Queen Tamara offered a wide space for free thinking and fair and humane relationships between the state and the individual; that was also an epoch when capital punishment was abolished.
The overall progress in the country could be also seen in Adjara. In the Middle Ages it also had well-developed traditions of literature, architecture, transcription of books, and different branches of economy. Famous writer, scientist and astronomer Tbel Abuseridze lived and worked in Adjara in the 13th century. Works of this writer are of great value for the Georgian spirituality and history of that epoch. Another important piece of literature is ‘Chronicles of the Tbeti Souls’ that was written in the 12th-17th centuries in the Tbeti Monastery in Shavsheti, it contains priceless information about history, geography, demography and onomastics of different areas: the Machakhela, Chorokhi and Acharistskali valleys and regions of Southwest Georgia.
The 13th century opened a difficult period of the Georgian history: for a century the country was under the rule of the Mongols, had to survive in devastating battles with Tamerlane, and finally disintegrated into smaller kingdoms/counties in the 15th century. Collapse of the orthodox Byzantine Empire and the fall of Constantinople to the Turks finally alienated Georgia from Western Europe. From early 16th century through late 18th century Georgia that was divided into feudal counties struggled for its independence. Endless wars with Iran/Ottoman Empire destroyed the country.
In 1783, Erekle II, King of Eastern Georgia, had to sign the Georgievsky Treaty with the Russian Empire to place Georgia under the Russian protection. In 1801, the Russian Tsar abolished the Kingdom of Kartli and Kakheti and annexed it to the Russian Empire. Later on the same was done to Western Georgia. Thereby Russia made Georgia part of its colonial structure. Yet the Adjarian population passed Georgian and Orthodox traditions from generation to generation, and retained their language and culture. In 1878, Adjara again became part of Georgia after the Russian-Turkish war.
After the October Revolution in 1917 and subsequent disintegration of the Russian Empire, Georgia gained independence for three years. Yet in February 1921 the Democratic Republic of Georgia was annexed by the Bolshevik Russia and became part of the Soviet Union, with Adjara obtaining the status of an autonomous republic that it has retained ever since. Georgia finally regained independence only after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1995 Georgia adopted a new constitution and became a presidential republic.

Large part of the Mtirala National Park is located on the territory of three municipalities: of Kobuleti, Khelvachauri, and Keda – an area with a lot of prominent monuments of history and culture. Remains of settlements, churches, fortresses, burial places and sacrificial altars, archeological artifacts, ancient bridges, steel and clay items, old irrigation channels found there - all have ancient and fascinating history and are part of Georgia’s glorious past.
A fortress of Gonio-Apsarosi is located in village Gonio in Khelvachauri district, 12 km from Batumi. The fortress was built close to the sea and had a very important strategic position protecting the entrances to the Colchic and Acharistskari valleys. It was the cradle of the Colchic Bronze Age culture and the Georgian statehood. Archeologists have collected rich and diverse evidence confirming that the first settlements were founded in Gonio in the 7th-6th centuries BC. In 1974, road construction works in Gonio exposed ancient artifacts consisting of wonderful golden items: a golden statuette of a young boy (It belongs to the Dioscurian tradition and dates back to the 1st century BC), massive faceted bracelets, a medallion showing an image of a muse, ornamented plates, images of warriors, animals and birds, diverse patterns of Late and Middle Ages ceramics and chinaware, gold, silver and bronze necklaces, different items, steel arms.
Coins found in the pits are of particular importance for studying trade and economic relationships: Macedonian coins are found there together with numerous Roman coins. Findings on the territory of the Kobuleti-Pichvnari settlement also include local and foreign coins: the Cyzicenus, Sinopic drams, coin of Amisos, stater of Alexander the Great, coins from Syracuse, etc. The evidence suggests that Adjarian coastal settlements had direct contacts with different centers of the antic world: Miletus, Chios, Lesbos, Athens, Sinope, Heraklion, etc.
There is a fortress called Petra-Tsikhisdziri in the area adjacent to the National Park, 5 km from Kobuleti. Petra-Tsikhisdziri is a brilliant price of early feudal epoch that is believed to have been both a fortress site and a church site.
Due to its important strategic location both for military purposes and trade, in the 6th century AD Justinian, the Emperor of Byzantium, ordered that the fortress should be extended and upgraded. The Tsikhisdziri fortress controlled a road going across the coastal zone and connecting the region with Byzantium, Persia, and Armenia, and the Great Silk Road going from Byzantium and on via the Black Sea.
The fortress of Khikhani played an important role in the history of Georgia and Adjara. The fortress is situated in the Khikhani gorge, in a hard-to-access place at 2635 m above sea level. It protected Adjara from the southeast and was critical for the country. The fortress was built under the supervision of the Abuseridzes, a famous feudal family who built the fortress following an order and instructions of the King. The Khikhani Fortress is almost totally destroyed today, with only some ruins of fortifications and public facilities still remaining on the site.
The Batumi Fortress situated at the estuary of the Korolistskali was first mentioned by pseudo Aristotle in the 4th century BC. Under the name of ‘Portus Altus’, the fortress was also mentioned on Tabula Peutingeriana (the Table (map) of Peutinger) and was a typical settlement of the 8th-7th centuries BC. Archeological findings also suggest the presence of an archeological layer dated to the end of the 7th - beginning of the 6th centuries BC that was represented, among others, by some Ionian clay ware and Chiosian amphorae believed to be the oldest in the Transcaucasus.
Among architectural sites that have survived to date in Adjara, particular attention should be paid to multiple-arch bridges that were similar in importance to fortresses and cultic sites. Bridge building traditions date back to the 4th-5th centuries AD, after Christianity was proclaimed as the state religion and new style and approaches were introduced to local economy, lifestyle, culture and architecture. Construction of stone arch bridges was of particular importance for entire Georgia, including Adjara, because of the Great Silk Road going across the country. Today there are bridges mainly remaining in the valleys of the rivers Acharistskali and Kintrishi in Adjara. The total number of bridges there is evaluated as about 30. Scientists pay particular attention to the Dandalo Bridge, also to the Makho, Makhuntseti, Purtio and other bridges.
Cultic architecture had to survive through the most serious damage as compared to other types of architecture in Southwest Georgia. This is particularly true about Adjara where many Christian churches/meetinghouses were destroyed by Ottomans. Among sites that survived, Skhalta cathedral dating back to the 12th century is the most prominent monument of the middle feudal ages. Similar to the Khikhani Fortress, it was built by the Abuseridzes and is located in the valley of the river Skhalta, a place where a short and convenient road between Adjara and Artaani goes. The cathedral is built on the right bank of the Skhalta river, on a high mountain plateau. The site used to be fenced; there are ruins of a big church and of a smaller cathedral still remaining at the site, on which according to D. Bakradze and P. Uvarova a bell-tower was built later on. The church had no dome, was built with gray porphyry and had the shape of a parallelogram. The church had a high triangular pediment; there was a church porch in the west and a chapel in the south. Fragments of paintings that still remain inside are dated to the 14th century AD and represent one of the best examples of the Georgian monumental painting.
One of the wonderful monuments that have survived to date is St. George’s Church in Achkvi that is dated to about 13th-14th century AD, where frescos have also survived.
Another interesting site is a stone wine press house in village Zeniti located adjacent to the Mtirala National Park that is a monument of the Hellenic epoch dating back to the 3rd century BC. It is an 8m-long and 3m-wide monolith cone-shaped structure where levers and the press were placed. The Zeniti wine press had high capacity, which confirms ancient traditions of viticulture and wine production in the region.
Developed viticulture of the Chakvistskali valley is also confirmed by remains of ancient wine cellars remaining in almost each village there.
Natural diversity and wonderful wildlife, sandy beaches, mountainous landscape, historical monuments and local communities all make the region of Adjara a promise of unforgettable impressions for visitors of the Mtirala National Park and its support zone.