BATONI-TSIKHE FORTRESS
Imposing fortress walls housing a school, museum, art gallery and small Persian-style palace.
Its name means "the lord's castle". The walls of the fortress are imposing. They include a school, the museum, and the palace in a second courtyard. The visit is worthwhile, the site is unusual. This small Persian-style palace is one of the rare Georgian monarch castles fully preserved to this day. Two small churches stand next to it.
The palace was built between 1664 and 1675 by the King of Kakhetia Artchil II when he transferred his court from Grémi to Telavi. From then on, it was the residence of the Kakhetian kings until the reign of the penultimate king of Kakhetia, Irakli II (1794-1798). This small palace with the scent of Shiraz reflects the Persian influence in its architecture. It is organized on one floor only. Within its walls decorated with mashrabiya, we visit two rooms where Irakli II was born and died. The throne room, decorated with portraits of members of the royal family, was a gift from Empress Catherine II of Russia.
The fortified complex also includes ruins of oriental baths and the Museum of History and Ethnography. The renovated museum presents the history of the region, artillery pieces, horse harnesses, traditional costumes and some interesting archaeological finds. An art gallery presents a nice collection of works by local painters. There are paintings by Elené Akhvlediani, the most famous Telavi painter, one of the most illustrious members of the Georgian avant-garde of the 1920s.