Surami Fortress

Surami Fortress stands on a rocky hill above the small town of Surami, near Khashuri at the western edge of Shida Kartli. From here it guarded the road from eastern to western Georgia over the Surami Pass and the entrance to the Borjomi gorge. Its earliest parts may date from the 12th century, though the exact building date is unknown. Today the walls and towers are ruined, but the hill gives good views over the town and the wooded Likhi range.

The fortress is best known for its legend. The walls kept collapsing during construction until a fortune teller said they would only stand if a widow's only son, Zurab, was walled up inside them. The writer Daniel Chonkadze told the story in the 19th century, and Sergei Parajanov filmed it as The Legend of Suram Fortress in 1985. Surami is also an old climatic resort, and roadside bakeries sell nazuki, its sweet bread.

People settled at Surami in the early Bronze Age. The fortress, possibly begun in the 12th century, controlled one of the main routes across Georgia, at the point where the road from the Kartli plain climbs toward the Likhi range and western Georgia. The local legend of the youth Zurab, walled into the fortress so it would stand, entered Georgian literature through Daniel Chonkadze (1830–1860) and reached world cinema through Parajanov's 1985 film.