Dedoplistsqaro

Dedoplistskaro დედოფლისწყარო
Skyline of Dedoplistskaro
Dedoplistskaro Location of Dedoplistskaro in Georgia
Coordinates:
Country	Georgia
Mkhare	Kakheti
Municipality	Dedoplistsqaro
Elevation	800 m (2,600 ft)
Population (2007)
• Total	7,200
Time zone	Georgian Time (UTC+4)
Website	dedoplistskaro.ge

Dedoplistskaro or Dedoplistsqaro (Georgian: დედოფლისწყარო, Queen's spring") is a town in Kakheti, Georgia with the population of 7,724 (2002 Georgia census). The town is located in the Shiraki Lowlands, eastern Georgia, and functions as a municipality of the district of the same name.

History

The locale is first mentioned in the medieval annals as a military post established by King David IV of Georgia (r. 1089-1125). Tradition relates its name, literally meaning "the Queen’s spring" to Queen Tamar (r. 1184–1213). After the annexation of Georgia, Russians established a military fort in 1803 to fend off the area being attacked by the Dagestan rebels and renamed the village into Tsarskie Kolodtsy (Russian: Царские Колодцы), that is "the royal wells".

File:Церква в Дедоплісцкаро.JPG

A church in Dedoplistsqaro

In 1869, the German entrepreneurs Carl Heinrich von Siemens and Ernst Werner von Siemens established an oil refinery near the village which functioned until the mid-1870s.

The village retained its military installations and a large garrison during Georgia's brief independence from 1918 to 1921. It was seized by the invading Soviet Russian forces after hours of heavy fighting with Georgian troops on February 18, 1921. The Russian commander Pyotr Kuryshko died in this battle.

The Soviet government changed the name into Tsiteltskaro (წითელწყარო; "Red Spring") and granted the settlement a town's status in 1963. In 1991, the historical name of Dedoplis Tskaro was restored. Ruins of the medieval fortress of Khornabuji lie near the town. The Vashlovani State Reserve is also located within the Dedoplis Tskaro district.