Ushguli
Encyclopedia
Ushguli or Ushkuli is a community of villages located at the head of the Enguri gorge in Upper Svaneti
, Georgia
.
Ushguli comprises four villages:
Zhibiani some 2100 m above sea level;
Chvibiani or Chubiani ;
Chazhashi or Chajashi ;
Murqmeli .
The Ushguli villages contain buildings that are part of the UNESCO
Heritage site
of Upper Svaneti.
Altitude claims vary from 2,086 to 2,200 metres. Ushguli is considered to be the highest inhabited village in Europe
.
It is located at the foot of Shkhara
, one of the highest Caucasian
summits. About 70 families (about 200 people) live in the area, enough to support a small school. The area is snow-covered for 6 months of the year, and often the road to Mestia
is impassable.
Typical Svanetian protective towers are found throughout the village. The Ushguli Chapel located on a hilltop near the village dates back to the 12th century.
The Mikhail Kalatozov
documentary Salt for Svanetia
was filmed in Ushguli.
Svaneti
Svaneti is a historic province in Georgia, in the northwestern part of the country. It is inhabited by the Svans, a geographic subgroup of the Georgians.- Geography :...
, Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
.
Ushguli comprises four villages:
Zhibiani some 2100 m above sea level;
Chvibiani or Chubiani ;
Chazhashi or Chajashi ;
Murqmeli .
The Ushguli villages contain buildings that are part of the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Heritage site
Heritage site
A Heritage Site is a location designated as important to the cultural heritage of a governing body such as a township, county, province, state, or country. It is a non-moveable object such as a historic site or national monument, but it may include several sites grouped together such as...
of Upper Svaneti.
Altitude claims vary from 2,086 to 2,200 metres. Ushguli is considered to be the highest inhabited village in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
It is located at the foot of Shkhara
Shkhara
Shkhara , is the highest point in the nation of Georgia. Located in the Svaneti region along the Russian frontier, Shkhara lies north of the city of Kutaisi, Georgia's second largest city. The summit lies in the central part of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range, to the south-east of Mount...
, one of the highest Caucasian
Greater Caucasus
Greater Caucasus , sometimes translated as "Caucasus Major", "Big Caucasus" or "Large Caucasus") is the major mountain range of the Caucasus Mountains....
summits. About 70 families (about 200 people) live in the area, enough to support a small school. The area is snow-covered for 6 months of the year, and often the road to Mestia
Mestia
Mestia is a highland townlet in northwest Georgia, at an elevation of 1,500 meters in the Caucasus Mountains.-General information:According to the current administrative subdivision of Georgia, Mestia is located in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region , some 128 km northeast of the regional...
is impassable.
Typical Svanetian protective towers are found throughout the village. The Ushguli Chapel located on a hilltop near the village dates back to the 12th century.
The Mikhail Kalatozov
Mikhail Kalatozov
Mikhail Kalatozov born Mikheil Kalatozishvili was a Georgian/Russian film director. Born in Tiflis , he studied economics before starting his film career as an actor and later cinematographer....
documentary Salt for Svanetia
Salt for Svanetia
Salt for Svanetia is a 1930 Georgian silent documentary film directed by Mikhail Kalatozov. As one of the earliest ethnographic films, it documents the life of the Svan people in the isolated mountain village of Ushguli in Svanetia, in the northwestern part of the Georgian Soviet Republic...
was filmed in Ushguli.