Tamarasheni

Tamarasheni ( _ka. თამარაშენი) is a village in South Ossetia, some 0.5 km north of Tskhinvali. Per Georgian administrative division the village is in Shida Kartli region.

The village is situated in the Great Liakhvi River valley. Tradition holds it that the modern-day village was founded by the medieval queen Tamar of Georgia (1284-1212) as a small town. Hence, the settlement’s name, literally meaning "built by Tamar". It was formerly part of the late medieval Georgian princedom of Samachablo (literally, "the estate of the Machabeli [family] ") and then of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast (abolished in 1990). Populated mostly by ethnic Georgians, the village lies within the ongoing Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone, and remained under the Government of Georgia’s control till the 2008 South Ossetia War.

Tamarasheni is a home to the Museum of the 19th-century Georgian writer and Shakespeare translator Ivane Machabeli who was born there in 1854. The museum was severely damaged, on July 23, 1997, in a blast allegedly organized by local Ossetian separatists. [ [http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=2&issue_id=194&article_id=2281 "Georgian Monument Blown up in South Ossetia"] , The Jamestown Foundation "Monitor", Volume 3, Issue 145 (July 25, 1997).]

Most of the village's houses were destroyed during the 2008 South Ossetia War by Ossetian militias. [Human Rights Watch, [http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/08/28/georgi19712.htm Georgia: Satellite Images Show Destruction, Ethnic Attacks] , 29.08.08]

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