Vardzia Cave Monastery
Medieval Georgian workers hollowed an entire hidden town of hundreds of interconnected rooms, churches, and cellars into a sheer cliff face, complete with a working irrigation system and concealed tunnel access — so how was a project of this scale planned, sequenced, and kept livable, and how much of the original complex still lies buried behind the section the 1283 earthquake tore open to the sky?
12th-13th century CE, under King George III and Queen Tamar of Georgia · Erusheti Mountain, Samtskhe-Javakheti, GeorgiaAdded July 2026