Chubinashvili Center's Alarming Report on Demolition of Korogho Tower - Proven Crime

The architectural complex of Korogho is located on the slope of the mountain in the Khadi Valley in Dusheti municipality. The complex carries the status of a cultural heritage monument of national importance, which implies that it should have been specially protected.

It is clear from the conclusion of the Chubinashvili Center that the rehabilitation project of the Korogho complex was prepared in 2019 and involved the demolition of the tower and the southern glass building of the church. Because of this, the project received a number of remarks at the meeting of the Council of Cultural Heritage. Its author was given specific recommendations to correct the shortcomings and was instructed to resubmit the project.

The National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation is now withholding public information about what changes the author made to the project and whether it was approved by the state body, however, on October 10, it became known that the historical tower of Korogho was completely demolished under the pretext of its rehabilitation. According to the conclusion of the Chubinashvili Center,

• "The tower was an important part of the Korogho complex. It is considered that it was built before the church, in the 10th century. The tower had a high cultural-historical value. The tower was given special value by the well-known construction inscription of the 10th century, which is very rare in Georgian towers. In the process of destruction, they did not take care to protect the inscription stone. Currently, it is half in ruins, and part of it is covered by a sheet of tin. The second stone, with a later scratched inscription, is not traced. It lies in ruins and is most likely broken.
• In December 2019, in the project definition card, the unreliable geological and structural condition was cited as an argument for the necessity of "dismantling" the tower (despite the fact that the geological conclusion included in the project documentation did not indicate anything alarming in this regard). After the tower was demolished, it was said to justify this action that it posed a threat to the church. Even so, it is not clear why it was necessary to demolish the tower to the bottom when it is clear that its lower part could not pose a danger to the church. The tower was demolished without realizing the expected consequences. The specifics of the construction material - easy-to-use flat stone - were not taken into account. When physically impacting the walls and then being dropped from a height, stones were broken into small pieces. Inspection of the existing piles showed that practically not a single stone was saved in its original volume, which means that even the building material will not be authentic when the tower is rebuilt.
• When the monument was demolished, no mandatory marking of the building stones was done. The ruins of the tower are scattered around the entire perimeter of the complex, both inside and outside the wall."

The problems caused by the "rehabilitation works" are not limited only to the collapse of the tower. According to the conclusion of the Chubinashvili Center, the unique landscapes are in danger, and the work on the church itself is done poorly, with a number of errors and methodological violations.

The Chubinashvili Center demands that the current project be suspended and a new project for the rehabilitation of the Korogho complex be prepared, within the scope of which the mistakes already made and the poorly executed works should be corrected as much as possible.

• "As a result of the collapse of the back tower and the destruction of its construction material, the monument received irreversible damage, and its authenticity is completely lost.
• It is necessary to start a discussion with the involvement of a wide circle of experts, as to what can be done to at least partially salvage the monument. A decision regarding the future of the tower should be made on the basis of this discussion and become part of the new project.
• Measures should be urgently planned and implemented to protect the two relief stones left after the demolition of the south gate of the church. At this stage, the best solution is to transfer them to the National Museum of Georgia, where not only their protection and presentation but also diagnosis and proper treatment will be ensured.
• Measures should be urgently planned and implemented to protect the tower's famous inscription, as well as to search for the scratched inscription discovered in 2014 in the ruins of the tower,'' the conclusion says.

Damaging or destroying a cultural heritage is a criminal offense. The Ministry of Internal Affairs did not respond to our question of whether the investigation into the destruction of the Korogho tower has been initiated. Levan Zedginidze, the deputy director of the Chubinashvili Center, told Georgian News that law-enforcement organizations are not allowed to interrogate specialists or hand over materials to them.

Nikoloz Aznaurashvili, who has been the head of the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation since 2022 and during whose tenure the Korogho Tower was demolished, was promoted by the Minister of Culture Tea Tsulukiani on October 3 and appointed as Deputy Minister.