The grandiose monument of Byzantine period of the Abkhazian history is the Great Wall of Abkhazia. It was constructed in the 6 th century during the reign of Justian, a Byzantine emperor, and was supposed to protect the country from intrusion of barbarians from the Northern Caucasus. The wall was completed in the 17 th century by the order of Levan II Dadiani, the tsar of Mingrelia.
The wall stretched from the river Kelasur on the gorges and mountains of Abkhazia up to the Inguri estuary for 160 km. It had hundreds of towers each of which was an impregnable fortress of 8- 12 m height with three rows of loopholes. Formerly impressive medieval stronghold surrounding Sukhum is lying in ruins now.
One of the surviving towers is called Kelasuri. It was the first one in the Great Wall of Abkhazia (second name Kelasuri Wall). The impressive ruins of the huge rectangular tower made from huge boulders bound with lime mortar remained standing right behind the eastern frontier of Sukhum at the Kelasuri estuary. The biggest concentration of the fortifications is in the wall's beginning – from the Kelasuri to the Mokva river. The 60 km part includes more than 200 towers with 100 of them in good condition; the others are severely destroyed. The distance between the towers is 40- 120 m , in cross-country terrain – 300 m and more. There are only 4 separately standing towers on the remained distance to the Inguri. |
