Georgia’s iconic highland village Mutso wins EU prize for its renovation project

The Georgian-government initiated restoration project of Georgia’s iconic Mutso village in the country’s mountainous Khevsureti region has won the EU’s most prestigious Europa Nostra Awards for Cultural heritage.

The project has chances to win another prize, the Public Choice Award, through voting on the page- vote.europanostra.org- including September 15, 2019.

Thanks to the project which was launched in 2015 and completed in 2018, the abandoned village came back to life, with three families living there now.

Buildings are renovated, electricity problems were resolved and museum-reserve was created in the village, the Georgian Education Ministry reports.

The village is quite small but was once one of the major strongholds of the historic Georgian mountainous province of Khevsureti, now part of Mtskheta-Mtianeti region.

The village is located on a rocky mountain 1,880 meters high on the right bank of the Andakistskali River.

The locals left the village almost completely abandoned more than a century ago due to poor living conditions. Mutso is home to approximately 30 medieval fortified dwelling units arranged on vertical terraces above the Mutso-Ardoti Gorge, four combat towers and ruins of several old structures and buildings.

Difficult to access, the village retained its original architecture and was a popular destination for tourists and mountain trekkers.

Tourists continue to show particular attention to Khevsureti and Mutso. It is one of the most popular destinations in the country.

The Europa Nostra prize was launched by the European Commission and starting from 2002, independent expert juries have selected 485 award-winning projects from 34 countries.

A total of 109 Grand Prix of ˆ10,000 have been presented to outstanding heritage initiatives, selected from among the award-winning projects, the Europa Nostra webpage reads.