Story
The story of Sighnaghi
Its name comes from the Old Turkic word syghynak, meaning “shelter”, and for a long time that is exactly what this hilltop was. In 1762 King Heraclius II sponsored the building of the town and raised a fortress to protect the area from raids by Dagestani tribesmen; remnants of those 18th-century walls still enclose the town. By the census of 1770, 100 families, mostly craftsmen and merchants, lived here.
Armenians once formed the vast majority: in 1851 there were 4,267 Armenians and 200 Georgians. Today Sighnaghi is one of Georgia's smallest towns, about 790 metres above sea level on a steep hill overlooking the vast Alazani Valley, with the Caucasus Mountains in the distance. Wander its narrow cobblestone streets between pastel houses.
Sighnaghi is known in Georgia as the “City of Love”, and many couples come here just to get married. Two churches stand in the town, dedicated to Saint George and Saint Stephen, and the Bodbe Monastery is only 2 kilometres away.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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