Akhaltsikhe (Georgian: ახალციხე [aχaɫtsʰiχe]), formerly known as Lomsia (Georgian: ლომსია), is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region (mkhare) of Samtskhe–Javakheti. It is the administrative center of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality and the Samtskhe–Javakheti region. It is situated on both banks of the small river Potskhovi (a left tributary of the Kura), which divides the city between the old city in the north and new in the south.

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Akhaltsikhe ახალციხე
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Akhaltsikhe Location of Akhaltsikhe in Georgia Show map of Georgia Akhaltsikhe Akhaltsikhe (Samtskhe-Javakheti) Show map of Samtskhe-Javakheti
Coordinates: 41°38′20″N 42°59′10″E
Country	Georgia
Region	Samtskhe–Javakheti
Municipality	Akhaltsikhe
Founded	1200
Elevation	1,029 m (3,376 ft)
Population  (2020)
• Total	16,943
Time zone	UTC+4 (Georgian Time)
Postal code	0800
Website	akhaltsikhe.gov.ge/en

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The 9th-century Akhaltsikhe (Rabati) Castle, which was recently restored, is located in the old part of the city. It is one of the main attractions of the Samtskhe–Javakheti region, along with Vardzia, Vale, Okrostsikhe and Zarzma.

Akhaltsikhe is the Georgian name of the town, which literally means "new fortress". It is attested in Arabic sources as Akhiskha (and Akhsikhath), in Persian as Akhesqeh (also spelled as Akheshkheh), and in Turkish sources as Ahıska.^[1][2][3]

The town is mentioned among the settlements conquered by general Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri during the reign of Umayyad Caliph Mu'awiya I (661–680). During the Mongol domination of Georgia, local rulers of the House of Jaqeli, who ruled the feudal principality of Samtskhe-Saatabago, were invested with the title of atabeg and were allowed to be autonomous. In contemporaneous Persian and Turkish sources, these Jaqeli rulers were referred to as Ḳurḳūra, which derives from Qvarqvare—the name of several Jaqeli rulers.^[1]

In 1579, during the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1578–1590, the Ottomans took the town. In the ensuing period, the Ottomans implanted Islam and Ottoman customs. In 1625, the town became the centre of the Akhalzik Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire known as Ahıska and it held a resident Ottoman pasha. The town rose to strategic importance and became a leading hub of the Caucasian slave market.^[1]

In 1828, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, Russian troops under the command of General Ivan Paskevich captured the city and, as a consequence of the 1829 Treaty of Adrianople, it was ceded to the Russian Empire. The city initially become part of the Kutaisi Governorate, then of the Tiflis Governorate, becoming the administrative centre of the Akhaltsikhe uezd.^[1]

In the late 1980s the city was host to the Soviet Army's 10th Guards Motor Rifle Division, which became a brigade of the Georgian land forces after the fall of the Soviet Union.^{[citation needed]}

The highland environment between Akhaltsikhe and Aspindza presents a varied and complex array of archaeological features in different locations, elevations and topographies. This includes the alluvial flood-plain of the Kura River, all the way to the high grasslands.^{[citation needed]}

Human habitation is attested already in the Early Bronze Age (4th millennium BC) and later. Artifacts from the Roman and medieval periods are also strongly represented in the area.^{[citation needed]}

• Gregorio Pietro Agagianian (1895–1971), Patriarch of Cilicia and the Armenian Catholic Church, Cardinal, and first Eastern Catholic papabile since Cardinal Bessarion during the Renaissance
• Charles Aznavour, world-famous French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent (father, Michael Aznavourian, was born in Akhaltsikhe)
• David Baazov, rabbi at Akhaltsikhe (1918)
• Shio Batmanishvili, hieromonk of the Servites of the Immaculate Conception, first Exarch of the Georgian Greek Catholic Church, and survivor of Solovki prison camp. Martyred by the NKVD during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge and buried in the mass grave at Sandarmokh in the Republic of Karelia.
• Hovhannes Kajaznuni (1868–1938), first prime minister of the First Republic of Armenia
• Ahmed-Pasha Khimshiashvili (?–1836), Pasha of Ahiska
• Sergo Kobuladze (1909–1978), painter and illustrator
• Hakob Kojoyan (1883–1959), Soviet Armenian artist
• Shalva Maglakelidze, plenipotentiary for the Russian Provisional Government and then for the government of Georgia in Akhaltsikhe (1917–1918)
• Stepan Malkhasyants, Armenian academician
• Hakob Manandian, Armenian historian
• Palavandishvili family
• Giorgi Mazniashvili, governor general of Akhaltsikhe (1919–1920)
• Natela Svanidze, Georgian composer
• Michel Tamarati (1858–1911), Georgian Catholic priest and historian
• Vakhtang Tchutchunashvili (?–1668), usurper of the throne of Imereti, fled to Ahiska after being deposed
• Vakhtang V, King of Kartli, fled to Ahiska after a failed coup
• Lusine Zakaryan (1937–1991), Soviet Armenian soprano singer

• Battle of Akhaltsikhe
• Samtskhe–Javakheti