Orbeliani Castle

Orbeliani Castle, locally also known as Jambakur-Orbeliani Palace, lies in the village of Lamiskana, in the Kaspi municipality in the Shida Kartli region in Georgia.

The castle was built in the 18th century by the Dukes of Ksani or one of their family members. In the early 19th century a palace was built on the southern curtain wall by Prince Ivane Orbeliani. In the middle of the 19th century the last owners of the castle were Count Alexander Orbeliani and his wife Mariam Jambakur-Orbeliani. Both were very active in social activism and literary circles of their time.

Orbeliani Castle has a rectangular ground plan with round corner towers. It was built on the edge of a mountain slope, looking out over the Ksani River valley. There is a small church, the St. Giorgi Orthodox Church, connected to its northwest corner tower. The 2-storey palace has wooden balconies on all sides.

At present Orbeliani Castle is used as a museum and can freely be visited during opening hours. All the exhibits in the museum are accompanied by texts only in Georgian and also the staff only speaks Georgian, so I understood next to nothing. The museum is rather bare but I liked the effort. A very nice castle, I especially liked the balconies.

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