Konki Fortress

Konki Fortress (Konkis tsikhe), a monument of Georgian architecture. It is located in the center of historical Kola (currently within the Republic of Turkey), on a mountain to the west of the village of the same name (present-day Kuzupinari). The fortress is a medium-sized megalithic structure, presumably built at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The fortress shows traces of later reconstruction; according to the surviving parts, it was expanded at a later period. In all probability, Georgians used it until the middle of the 16th century.

The plan of the original section of the fortress is rectangular, elongated in a south-north (length 22.5 m, width 14 m), and is divided into two equal parts by a blind wall. Both parts have independent entrances: the northern section from the east, and the southern section from the south. From the exterior, a rounded blind projection tapers gradually upward at all four corners of the fortress. A projection of similar form is situated in the middle of the western wall. The fortress is constructed of boulders without mortar. The thickness of some walls is 2.5 m, while others reach up to 4 m. The height of the surviving walls does not exceed 3 m.

Literature: თავაძე ლ., კონქის ციხე. – კრ.: ტაო-კლარჯეთის ციხესიმაგრეები, ტ. 1, თბ., 2020; თაყაიშვილი ე., არქეოლოგიური ექსპედიცია კოლა-ოლთისში და ჩანგლში 1907 წელს, პარიზი, 1938.

T. Dvali