As tensions rose on other paths of the Silk Roads, the Caucasus and Georgia became an alternative route for Silk to flow to Byzantium starting from the 6th century.
But how do you benefit from these flows of goods and ideas while staying safe from the tumult that arises with it ? One possible answer is to carve a city in the rocks with hidden tunnels leading to the Mtkvari river.
Constructed in the 12th and the 13th centuries as the mongol invasions rolled through Eurasia, the city of Vardzia of the Kingdom of Georgia was siege to the Queen Tamar the Great and her father before her. Vardzia counts as much as 13 stories, hundreds of rooms, 15 churches, monk cells.
The church of the Dormition of the Virgin is one sacred place where one can hear echoes of spirituality and ancient times.
