Barakoni and Khotevi

Barakoni is one of the last important monuments in Racha belonging to the Middle Age Georgian dome architecture. Cathedral of the Virgin Mary is located near hamlet of Tsesi in Ambrolauri region. On order of Racha ruler, Rostom, it was built in 1753 by Avtandil Shulavreli. Cathedral was built with cut stone and is richly ornamented. Restoration of cathedral was done in 1991 after it received damage because of earthquake.

Khotevi is a village on the northern knee of Racha plateau, 10 km from the town of Ambrolauri, 1000 meters above the sea level. First mentioned in historical sources in ‘Nikortsminda Annals’ (XI c.). Thanks to location on the road connecting Imereti and Lower Racha, Khotevi was an advanced merchant point. Russian ambassadors of XVII century, Aleksi Ievlev and Nikifore Tolchanov, mention Khotevi among towns of the country of Imereti. In XIX century Khotevi was a center of the district of Racha. In the village there are remnants of the church of Archangel and ruins of the fortress of XVI-XVII cc. According to the legend on the name of Khotevi, one of the kings of Imereti relocated here a family of prince Tsulukidze who built a fortress. When construction was finished, a king visited the fortress and asked Tsulukidze: “Is there enough space for you at the fortress?” After that it was named Khotevi Fortress stemming from a pun in Georgian meaning enough space (kho-tevi – enough), later giving this name to the whole village. Fortress is today destroyed. Extant part has emplacements. It used to have a fence. Fortress had two floors. Khotevi fortress used to be very strong and impregnable.

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