Ushguli residents stop protests after authorities' promises to restore family towers

In Svaneti, residents of the Ushguli community stopped their protest action after the authorities promised to restore local towers.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 12, residents of the town of Mestia held a protest action and blocked roads. They demanded from the authorities to restore collapsed family towers in the village of Merkmeli.

The residents of the Ushguli community stopped their protest action after the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Culture and Sports assured them that the towers in Svaneti would be restored, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed on August 19 by Manana Sangliani, a local historian from the Mestia Cultural Centre.

According to her, the problem of restoration of old towers is one of the acute problems in Svaneti. "Those towers belong to private families. Meanwhile, they are all listed in the National Centre for Cultural Heritage," emphasized Manana Sangliani.

Owners of the family towers note that on the one hand, the inclusion of their property on the UNESCO list is a good advertisement for attracting tourists, but, on the other hand, that fact does not allow repairing of the towers.

"To start restoration, you need permission from the architectural department of the local administration and the monument protection department of the Ministry of Culture. You may not carry out any repair works by yourself, since in that case you will have to pay a fine," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Timur Nizharadze, an owner of the "Gamardjoba" Hotel and a family tower in the Ushguli community.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 20, 2019 at 06:07 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.