Photos of the Upper Svanetti Svan Tower House Fortifications

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Photos of the Remote Upper Svanetti Svan Tower House Fortifications, Svanetti, Georgia (country). Photos by photographer Paul E Williams.   (TIP – use the icons below the slideshow for thumbnail photos and info)

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Photos of the Remote Upper Svanetti Svan Tower House Fortifications, Georgia (country)

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Photos of the historic Medieval Svan Tower Houses of Upper Svaneti in the high Caucasus Mountains, Svanetti, Georgia (country).

Upper Svanetti Georgia

The Svaneti villages of the Upper Svaneti region of Georgia are some of the most remote settlements in the eastern European Eurasia region. The highest settlements are four villages grouped together and known collectively as Ushguli. This is the highest permanently inhabited settlement in Europe at 2,200 m (7217 ft) above sea level. The Village is situated at the foot of the highest mountain in the Georgian Caucasus Mountain range, Mount Shkhara, at 5,068 m (16,627 ft).

Cut Off in the Winter Snows

In the winter Ushguli is cut off from the outside world for 6 months from November to the end of April. Even when the snows have gone the track that runs from Mestia, 30 miles away, can take 3 hours to drive.

Isolated and vulnerable to attack the medieval inhabitants of the Upper Svaneti built stone defensive towers onto their single storey houses, the oldest Svan Tower dates back to the 9th century.

The name Ushguli comes from Georgian phrase ushishariguli which means “fearless heart” and its inhabitants certainly needed that to live in such a remote area. It was so inaccsable that it is one of few places in Georgian that has never been conquered. Until recently there wren still bandits operating there which effectively closed it to tourism.

Today is a different matter with daily convoys of 4×4 vehicles ferrying day trippers from Mestia to experience the incredible and unique Upper Svaneti villages, set against the spectacular snow capped peaks of the Caucasus Mountains.

Upper Svaneti is one the truly unique destinations in the world. The Svan people are fiercely independent and protective of their long culture, and distinctive language, that developed over 1000 years in isolation from the rest of Europe.

The Svan are deeply religious people with 5 Georgian Orthodox churches in Ushguli alone.