Akhiza Castle

Ahiza Castle (Georgian: ახიზის ციხე; translit.: “ah’izis tsih’e”), a medieval castle built in the historical Klarceti region, now within the borders of Turkey, in the district of Ardanuç, Artvin Province. In Evliya Çelebi's travelogue it is mentioned as Harbe Castle. Today this castle is also called Ferhatlı Castle after the village of Ferhatlı.

Located in the old Ahiza village, Ahiza Castle lies about two kilometres north of the village of Ferhatlı, on the right bank of the Cehennem Stream. The castle was renovated in the 5th century by the Georgian king Vahtang Gorgasali.

According to the Georgian history titled Kartlis Tshovreba, after the recapture of Klarceti, Georgian king Vahtang Gorgasali and Klarceti prince Artavaz toured the region. According to Cuanşer, one of the authors of this account, there were two large castles in Klarceti at that time. These were Tuharisi Castle and Ahiza Castle. Because Ahiza Castle had been damaged, the king ordered its reconstruction. Consequently the castle was rebuilt and a church was also built inside the castle in the name of Vahtang Gorgasali.

Karl Koch, who traveled the region, referred to Ahiza Castle as Gocibore. At that time the episcopal center next to the castle no longer existed. Around 1910, the Russian clergyman Pavel Aleksandrovich Florensky, who toured the area, wrote that although the castle was largely ruined, its walls were still standing. The mosaic fresco of the Virgin Mary in the church inside the castle was also intact. It is known that the ceiling decorations of Ahiza Church feature a cross in one place and a cross with a deer figure in another.

Although a part of Ahiza Castle's curtain walls still stands today, the castle, built with rubble stone, is now in a ruined condition.