Tao-Klarjeti is the term conventionally used in modern history writing to describe the historic south-western Georgian principalities, now forming part of north-eastern Turkey and divided among the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Ardahan and Kars. Tao and Klarjeti were originally only the names of the two most important provinces of the Georgian lands that stretched from the “Georgian Gorge" in the south to the Lesser Caucasus in the north.
Historically, the area comprised the following provinces: West of the Arsiani Mountains were Tao, Klarjeti and Shavsheti, to the east lay Samtskhe, Erusheti, Javakheti, Artaani and Kola. The landscape is characterised by mountains and the river-systems of the Chorokhi and the Mtkvari. Tao-Klarjeti’s geographical position between the great Empires of the East and the West, and the fact that one branch of the Silk Road ran through its territory, meant that it was subject to a constant stream of diverging influences. In the 9th-11th centuries, Tao-Klarjeti was ruled by the Iberian Bagratids, and the region played a crucial role in the unification of the Georgian principalities into a single feudal state in 1008. Alongside the magnificent nature, the architectural monuments of Tao-Klarjeti (churches, monasteries, bridges and castles) function as tourist attractions today, but many monuments are endangered, since nothing is done for their preservation. There have also been cases of deliberate destruction (for instance in Opiza and Tbeti).
Georgian monasteries and Churches in Tao-Klarjeti (nowadays Turkey): Oshki church ,Khandzta monastery, Church of Bana, Ishkhani church, Doliskana church, Tbeti monastery, Khakhuli monastery, Parkhali Monastery, Otkhta Eklesia, Kizil kilise, Opiza monastery and so on.
