Mutso

Mutso

მუცო
Mutso მუცო
Village
	View of Mutso
	Mutso Location in Mtskheta-Mtianeti Mutso Location in Georgia
	Coordinates: 42°36′22″N 45°12′22″E / 42.606111°N 45.206111°E
Country	Georgia
Region	Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Municipality	Dusheti Municipality
Administrative unit	Shatili
Population (2014)
• Total	15
Time zone	UTC+4 (Georgia Time)

Mutso (Georgian: მუცო) is a highland village in Dusheti Municipality, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, northern Georgia, in the historical region of Pirikita Khevsureti. A municipal ordinance lists it among the villages of the Shatili administrative unit. The 2014 census recorded 15 residents.

The separately protected medieval fortified settlement of Mutso occupies the rocky slope above the modern village.

Name

The form მუცო is used for the village in Georgian municipal legislation. In a 2008 archaeological study, Ivane Tsiklauri headed the section on the site მიცუ (იგივე მუცო), meaning “Mitsu (the same as Mutso)”, documenting მიცუ as an alternative Georgian form.

Geography and population

Mutso lies in the Ardoti River valley, on a tributary of the Argun, approximately 11 to 12 km (6.8 to 7.5 mi) from Shatili.

History of the village

Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century accounts distinguished the fortified complex on the upper slope from a smaller settlement of the same name at its foot. The lower settlement lay south of the fortified complex and, in the late 19th century, formed part of the Ardoti community in the Tionety uezd of the Tiflis Governorate.

The Geographical and Statistical Dictionary of the Russian Empire recorded 98 inhabitants in 17 households in 1867. Radde's account gave 20 hearths or households for 1873.

Fortified settlement

Above the modern village, a medieval fortified complex occupies three rocky terraces and contains fortified dwellings, defensive towers and walls, religious structures and above-ground burial vaults. Presidential Decree No. 665 of 7 November 2006 lists the complex as მუცო - ციხე-სოფელი, dates it broadly to the Middle Ages and grants it the status of an immovable cultural monument of national significance.

A rehabilitation programme begun in 2014 received a European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award in 2019 and subsequently won the programme's Public Choice Award.

References

1 2 "Number of population by administrative-territorial units and sex" (XLS). National Statistics Office of Georgia. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
1 2 დუშეთის მუნიციპალიტეტის ადმინისტრაციული ერთეულების დამტკიცების თაობაზე [On the approval of the administrative units of Dusheti Municipality] (in Georgian). Legislative Herald of Georgia. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
1 2 კულტურის ზოგიერთი უძრავი ძეგლისათვის ეროვნული მნიშვნელობის კატეგორიის მინიჭების შესახებ [On granting the category of national significance to certain immovable cultural monuments] (in Georgian). Legislative Herald of Georgia. 7 November 2006. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
↑ Tsiklauri, Ivane (2008). პირიქით ხევსურეთის ნასოფლარები (შატილ-მიღმახევის ხეობები) [Abandoned settlements of Pirikita Khevsureti: the Shatili and Mighmakhevi valleys]. საქართველოს შუა საუკუნეების არქეოლოგიური ძეგლები [Archaeological Monuments of Medieval Georgia] (PDF) (in Georgian). Tbilisi: Centre for the Protection and Study of Antiquities. p. 34. ISBN 978-9941-0-0963-1.
1 2 Demidov, G. V. (1931). В высокогорьях Кавказа: Горные районы Грузии [In the Highlands of the Caucasus: Mountainous Regions of Georgia] (in Russian). Moscow: State Educational and Pedagogical Publishing House.
↑ "Mutso". Georgian National Tourism Administration. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
1 2 Radde, Gustav (1881). Хевсурия и хевсуры: опыт монографии. Описание путешествия, совершённого летом 1876 года [Khevsuria and the Khevsurs: a monographic study and account of a journey made in the summer of 1876] (PDF). Proceedings of the Caucasian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (in Russian). 11 (2). Tiflis. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 January 2021.
↑ Semyonov, Pyotr, ed. (1867). "Муцо" [Mutso]. Географическо-статистический словарь Российской империи [Geographical and Statistical Dictionary of the Russian Empire] (in Russian). Vol. 3. Saint Petersburg. p. 368.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ "Mutso Museum-Reserve". National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
↑ "Fortified Settlement of Mutso, Georgia". European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
↑ "President of Georgia and Stéphane Bern give the Public Choice Award 2019". Europa Nostra. 25 November 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2026.

External links

Mutso — Georgian National Tourism Administration

[geostat2014-1] 1 2 "Number of population by administrative-territorial units and sex" (XLS). National Statistics Office of Georgia. Retrieved 15 August 2026.

[matsne-admin-2] 1 2 დუშეთის მუნიციპალიტეტის ადმინისტრაციული ერთეულების დამტკიცების თაობაზე [On the approval of the administrative units of Dusheti Municipality] (in Georgian). Legislative Herald of Georgia. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2026.

[matsne-monument-3] 1 2 კულტურის ზოგიერთი უძრავი ძეგლისათვის ეროვნული მნიშვნელობის კატეგორიის მინიჭების შესახებ [On granting the category of national significance to certain immovable cultural monuments] (in Georgian). Legislative Herald of Georgia. 7 November 2006. Retrieved 15 August 2026.

[tsiklauri-4] Tsiklauri, Ivane (2008). პირიქით ხევსურეთის ნასოფლარები (შატილ-მიღმახევის ხეობები) [Abandoned settlements of Pirikita Khevsureti: the Shatili and Mighmakhevi valleys]. საქართველოს შუა საუკუნეების არქეოლოგიური ძეგლები [Archaeological Monuments of Medieval Georgia] (PDF) (in Georgian). Tbilisi: Centre for the Protection and Study of Antiquities. p. 34. ISBN 978-9941-0-0963-1.

[demidov-5] 1 2 Demidov, G. V. (1931). В высокогорьях Кавказа: Горные районы Грузии [In the Highlands of the Caucasus: Mountainous Regions of Georgia] (in Russian). Moscow: State Educational and Pedagogical Publishing House.

[georgia-travel-6] "Mutso". Georgian National Tourism Administration. Retrieved 15 August 2026.

[radde-7] 1 2 Radde, Gustav (1881). Хевсурия и хевсуры: опыт монографии. Описание путешествия, совершённого летом 1876 года [Khevsuria and the Khevsurs: a monographic study and account of a journey made in the summer of 1876] (PDF). Proceedings of the Caucasian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (in Russian). 11 (2). Tiflis. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 January 2021.

[semenov-8] Semyonov, Pyotr, ed. (1867). "Муцо" [Mutso]. Географическо-статистический словарь Российской империи [Geographical and Statistical Dictionary of the Russian Empire] (in Russian). Vol. 3. Saint Petersburg. p. 368.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[heritage-9] "Mutso Museum-Reserve". National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia. Retrieved 15 August 2026.

[europa-award-10] "Fortified Settlement of Mutso, Georgia". European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2026.

[europa-public-11] "President of Georgia and Stéphane Bern give the Public Choice Award 2019". Europa Nostra. 25 November 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2026.