Akhaltsikhe

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Akhaltsikhe (Georgian: ახალციხე, old names: Lomsia and Ahıska) is a small city in southwestern Georgia, Mkhare (Province) of Samtskhe-Javakheti with a population of 46,134. It is situated on the both banks of a small river Potskhovi, which separates the city to the old city in the north and new in the south. The name of the city translates as "new castle". The city is first mentioned in the chronicles in the 12th century. In the 12th - 13th centuries it was the seat of the Akhaltsikhelis, rulers of Samtskhe, whose two most illustrious representatives were Shalva and Ivane Akhaltsikhelis (of Akhaltsikhe). From the 13th up to the 17th century the city and Samtkhe were governed by the feudal family of the Jakelis. In 1576 the Ottomans took it and from 1628 the city became the centre of Akhaltsikhe Province. In 1828, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, Russian troops under the command of General Paskevich captured the city and, as a consequence of the 1829 Treaty of Adrianople (Edirne), it was ceded to the Russian Empire as part of first Kutaisi and then Tbilisi governorates. In the old part of the city one can see an old fortress, castle and mosque, the old fortress of the Jakelis (13th-14th century), and St Marine's Church. The hills nearby the city harbour the Sapara Monastery (10th - 14th centuries).