ახალციხის ციხე (Akhaltsikhe Castle aka. Rabati Fortress), Akhaltsikhe Municipality, Georgia
ახალციხის ციხე (Akhaltsikhe Castle aka. Rabati Fortress), Akhaltsikhe Municipality, Georgia
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Akhalcikhe%2C_old_city_general_view.jpg/1280px-Akhalcikhe%2C_old_city_general_view.jpg?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
https://georgia.travel/cities-towns/akhaltsikhe
https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/9448437 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/VTE56SYxSVQK7Y4C9
Akhaltsikhe (Rabati) Castle is a medieval fortress built in the 9th century under the name "Lomsia Castle" in the city of Akhaltsikhe in southern Georgia, recently globally reconstructed. One of the main attractions of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region along with Vardzia. The original name of the fortress in the 9th century was Lomsia, which can be translated from Georgian as "Lion". At the end of the 12th century, Lomsia acquired the new name Akhal-tsikhe, which literally translates as “New fortress”,the name "Rabati" which is sometimes used for this castle, mostly is used after restoration and it is a of Jewish/Arabic origin and means any fortified place. Rabati was usually called the trading quarter at the fortress, earlier mainly Jewish merchants and craftsmen lived in the Rabat quarter, however mainly after reconstruction the name stuck to the all fortress itself. On the official web site of municipality of Akhaltsikhe town and on the official Facebook page of the fortress the name is "Akhaltsikhe (Rabati) Castle" was used or just "Akhaltsikhe Castle." In most of all historical documents castle is mentioned as Akhaltsikhe castle.